Young Adult Authors Series - Presenting Lynn Hall (Young Adult Authors Series)

In Presenting Lynn Hall, Susan Stan draws a vivid picture of a woman whose own life - past and present - is reflected in her books: Hall's young adult novels often focus on the isolation of strong young women who have chosen to step outside the traditional female role. Stan uses The Solitary, Hall's affecting portrait of a young "loner," to dramatize Hall's practicality, her determination, and her life on her own. Beginning with a visit to Touchwood, Hall's country home (where she breeds Bedlington terriers), Stan reveals the author as a determined woman who recognized early on that she could not rely on anyone else to give her the life she wanted, and who during her twenties and thirties worked single-mindedly to achieve her dream of living alone on an acreage where she could have horses and dogs. This insight into Hall's character informs Stan's analysis of Hall's works in the young adult genre. Stan effectively demonstrates how Hall's stories may be grouped around themes of survival, independence, and family relationships. Stan frames her examination of Hall's work with interesting and illuminating details of Hall's life as a breeder of champion dogs, her publishing history and her relationships with editors, and the roots of her solitary lifestyle. In doing so, Stan presents Lynn Hall as an example of how one self-described "ordinary" young woman persevered and wrote her way into a rather extraordinary life.