c 1769
Jean Honoré Fragonard
Years ago, while participating in a 4-month
publishing workshop. I was asked to describe my Ideal Reader:
- She loves to travel and adores all things Britain
- She digs a good female survivor story told with humor.
- She is fun-loving.
I call my ideal reader Genevieve, French meaning ‘tribe woman.’
Genevieve’s idea of a good time is curling up with a good book that gambols through the Cotswold’s or wanders the streets of London. She longs to live in Great Britain, so she relishes adventuring England’s back roads—anywhere in Europe for that matter—through the eyes of solo women travelers: Books give her the encouragement that she, too, could do it alone. As a lifelong learner, Genevieve devours women’s history and learning about female British royalty. She wants to understand more about the journey of Woman’s fight for intellectual equality.
Genevieve appreciates a writer’s voice with humor and irreverence, even in the depths of misfortune. Genevieve has had setbacks in her life, so she relishes reading about women who have found their way after trauma. She relates to life’s arduous, non-linear journey, steps forward, steps back. A free spirit, Genevieve is open-minded when it comes to sex and relationships. Though she keeps current politically and may have a history of social activism, Genevieve doesn’t want to read about real-world politics in her downtime. Give her a woman’s travel odyssey, and she is content.
When Genevieve visits a bookstore, she is looking for a strong—must be likable—female subject, but her book interests are eclectic. She wants to be enlightened. She wants to be entertained. Unforgettable nonfiction? Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. In her opinion, author Pat Conroy was the 20th-century American master of words. Genevieve is addicted to travel shows and she laps up shows about female British monarchs and their palace grounds. She shops in small boutiques as opposed to box stores and prefers restaurants that are intimate. Her women friends mean the world to her, but she is just as happy in solitude, reading books!
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