Accolades
2018 Royal Palm Literary Award Winner: First Place – Historical Fiction
2018 FAPA President’s Book Awards Gold Medalist
Praise
“Faye’s character and her concerns are nicely drawn, the twists of plot are unpredictable and different, and the story line is thoroughly engrossing. . . . Readers will appreciate Who She Is for its multifaceted approach to life and one girl’s discovery of who she really is (and can be) in the face of bullying, betrayal, and abandonment.” —D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“The characters are gritty and real, and the tumultuous late 1960s are depicted vibrantly. This is a tale that sheds light on exactly how much women have had to overcome in order to participate in such simple things as high school sports. A worthy, engrossing read.” —Aimie K. Runyan, Bestselling Author of Daughters of the Night Sky
“This story is about so many things – Women’s rights in sports, racism, and another issue that I will not give away.” —Wall to Wall Books
“One girl’s discovery of who she really is (and can be) in the face of bullying, betrayal, and abandonment.” —The Midwest Review
“Crisp and compelling prose.” — Gail Cleare, Bestselling author, USA Today
“Poignant and moving story.” —Wendy Tokunaga, women’s fiction author
“A powerful story from beginning to end.” —Readers Favorite 5-star review
WHO SHE IS
Excerpt | Reader’s Guide
In the fall of 1967, Faye Smith’s family moves to Florida to work in the orange groves, and she has to start a new school… again. She tries out for the track team, knowing her mother would never approve because of Faye’s epilepsy.
When Faye discovers she has a talent for distance running, she and her friend Francie decide to enter the Boston Marathon, even though women aren’t allowed to compete. Desperate to climb out of the rut of poverty, Faye is determined to take part and win a college scholarship.
After the school bully tries to run her down with his car, a strange memory surfaces—a scene Faye doesn’t recognize. Her parents insist that it’s a symptom of her epilepsy, but Faye thinks they might be lying, especially when it keeps happening. To get her life on the right path, she’ll need to figure out what her parents are hiding and never lose sight of the finish line.
EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1
October 4, 1967
My first day at Valencia High started with a bloody nose. I had physical education class right after homeroom, and I wandered around the sprawling school, looking for the gym, for ten minutes. When I finally found it and changed into my PE uniform, I saw that the other girls were playing volleyball. I groaned. I loved nearly all sports, but I had always loathed volleyball. Something about spiking the ball and charging the net never worked for me. But of course, I didn’t have a choice. The teacher assigned me to a group with another white girl and two black girls, who eyed me with suspicion. That kind of thing happened in every school. I was the perpetual new girl, the one nobody trusted.
Sure enough, as soon as we started playing, one of the black girls elbowed me in the nose. Immediately, blood spurted all over my clothes. I lay on the floor and tried not to cry. The girl apologized and helped me up, and the teacher gave me a towel to hold over my nose.
She told the white girl from my team to take me to the nurse’s clinic.
“Thanks,” I said to the girl when we were on our way. “I don’t think I could have found the clinic on my own.”
“Sure. Not a problem. I hate volleyball.”
I glanced at her to see if she’d read my mind and was making fun of me, but she seemed serious. I tried to remember her name, but pain and embarrassment drove out that information.
“Me, too,” I said, sniffing back blood. “It’s my first day here.”
“Not a great way to start at a new school. But your mom will probably come and take you home or at least bring you clean clothes.”
“Not likely.”
“Really? Why not?”
I sighed. There was no way I was going to get into my family’s weirdness with a girl whose name I couldn’t even remember. I held the towel more tightly on my nose and mumbled from beneath it,
“She’s really busy.”
“That’s too bad. Your nose isn’t great.”
That was cold comfort, but I nodded, trying to be polite.
She guided me through a maze of hallways to a door marked Nurse’s Clinic. Smiling, she said, “See you around,” before turning away.
UNSURPRISINGLY, MOM said she was too busy to come to the school. Luckily, the nurse helped me clean myself up enough to attend the rest of my classes. My nose looked like a balloon and felt like a hammer was pounding into it, but I held my head down and tried to cover my face with my hair.
Just before the end of the last class, the principal gave announcements for the next day over the intercom. I listened with half an ear and thought about my crummy life. Moving all the time, new schools every few months, walking into classrooms and having everyone stare at me—I could go on and on about my woes, but it did absolutely no good. Nobody cared how I felt.
“Should meet at the track tomorrow…”
Wait. Had the principal said something about the track team? I tapped the guy in front of me on the shoulder, and he turned to look at me. “What did he say about track?” I asked.
He glanced at my nose then quickly looked away. “They’re looking for some new kids to be on the track team. Tryouts are tomorrow.”
“Do they take girls?”
“I don’t know. I guess so.” He shrugged, nodded, and turned back around.
Suddenly, my nose didn’t hurt so much. I loved to run. I ran around all the time on the farms where we lived, just for the fun of it. Being on the track team would give me something to do other than go right home after school and start on my chores. And it might also give me a life of my own, for however long it lasted.
READER GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
I love to talk with readers about Who She Is. Feel free to contact me if you’d like me to Skype with your book group. I will travel to visit book groups that are no more than one hour from Boulder, Colorado. This is a free service I provide because I’ve enjoyed my own book group so much.
What is one word you would use to describe Faye? What about Francie? How are these two girls alike, and how are they different in their approaches to life?
One of the themes in the book is “liberation.” How do you see the characters seeking to be liberated?
What kind of things have you passionately wanted in your life? Did you get them? If so, how satisfying was that for you?
Faye was a survivor of trauma. The counselor helped her cope with her physical reactions to trauma by teaching her to visualize something she really loved to do while taking deep breaths. What has helped you deal with the various traumas in your life?
One of the things readers respond to is the song titles at the beginning of each chapter. Did you notice the songs? Which ones were your favorites? Did they add to your reading experience?
Faye and Francie loved to run, but they had different approaches to the sport. How do you think they were different? Have you ever been a runner? If so, what did you like about the sport? If not, what kind of exercise do you prefer?
How do you think Faye’s story fits within the overall context of the 1960s? How might it have been different if were set in another decade, such as the 1980s or 1990s? Or even now?
Who was the worst villain in the story, Sue or Bud? Did they deserve the punishment they received?
What do you think will happen to the characters next?
Sometimes authors like to think of the setting of a book as another character in the book. Most of this book was set in Central Florida. Did the setting contribute to telling the story, or could the book have been set anywhere and still be essentially the same?