Becoming a Woman of Substance

The sequel to Beguiled, Miriam Levine Butler, age 38, began her journey of finding her "true north." Living in Greenwich Village during the Great Depression of the 1930s, mired in a deteriorating marriage and caretaker of her handicapped daughter, the rosy promise of her early adulthood had fizzled. Reaching her nadir, she had an epiphany. She could and must change her life.

Discover how Miriam, with only a high-school diploma, but plenty of guts and perseverance, transformed herself. She resurrected her previous theater skills to refashion a world of adventure. She worked as a journalist investigator at Hallie Flanagan's innovative Federal Theatre Project, financed through FDR's New Deal, where she interviewed drought refugees in the growing fields of California. She galvanized the New York City Child Welfare Board, advocating for poor families. She muckraked for a newspaper, only to discover that the owner-publisher was unethical, according to her values. She won a seat in the New York State Assembly.

Like the previous book in the series, Miriam encounters real characters from history, like the ebullient Flanagan, that enliven the story and become mentors and role models who are instrumental in her eventual success.

Despite facing obstacles and losses, Miriam's story will inspire you about how one woman living more than one hundred years ago became a "person of substance."