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Table of Contents
About The Book
Ana Fried is a struggling filmmaker fighting to step out of her mother’s shadow. While researching the essence of Indian goddesses at Mount Abu for a film she was writing, a bout of malaria sends her back to her childhood suburban home. In her fever dreams, she relives her time at Yale during the early years of coeducation, where she first fought the many men who refused to take women artists seriously.
Ana’s filmmaking journey takes her from the high-stakes New York art scene to the gritty blues clubs of Memphis. Along the way, she navigates toxic relationships and “mentors” who try to control her talent.
Ana returns to Manhattan to finish her film, The Cyborg Goddess, and stop playing it safe. Confronting the ghosts of her past, she determines to finally stop letting others define her and claim her own voice.
Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman is a powerful #MeToo story from a different era, exposing the dark side of sexual liberation and the systems designed to keep women small and under control. This novel will inspire anyone who has ever dared to choose their art to live a true life of independence and personal empowerment.
Product Details
- Publisher: City Point Press (September 8, 2026)
- Length: 352 pages
- ISBN13: 9781947951853
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Raves and Reviews
“Spent most of my reading time with my jaw dropped--I was way too timid to navigate the 60s as this ‘cyborg goddess’ did. Wow, did I miss a lot! The book is both a romp and a history lesson, giving you the adventures of a brave (and yeah foolish) young woman in an outrageous time. Do give it a go. Especially if you weren't there or weren't that reckless yourself. You can live it all vicariously… as I did.”
– Ann Medlock, novelist and award-winning public radio commentator.
"For some of us the book is a reminder; for younger women it's a revelation of what was an entirely unique college experience."
– Darryle Pollack, Author, I Never Signed Up for This
“In one sense, …a fierce feminist treatise cataloguing the innumerable obstacles encountered by a young woman artist as she discovers, over and over, that the world of successful art is a man's world. But at the same time the novel is a gripping account of the late '60s counterculture and its free love movement, sketching out all the confusions and entanglements that eventually beset all those who took the anti-Establishment message seriously.This is transcendent stuff, folks; and not only will anyone who reads this book be richly rewarded, but anyone who does not will have missed something truly unique.”
– Steven K. Sharp, author, On the Skin of the Molten Iron
Resources and Downloads
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Book Cover Image (jpg): Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman
Trade Paperback 9781947951853
