8 h 42 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does it cost to live honestly when the world asks you to hide who you love?
Laura Landon comes to Greenwich Village after a college love affair leaves her hurt. She needs work, friends, and a way to live with her feelings. In Ann Bannon's I Am a Woman, New York opens into a hidden world of bars, parties, and small apartments, where the hope of belonging meets the pressure to keep part of yourself concealed.
Then Laura meets Beebo Brinker, a tall, bold woman whose direct manner and confidence stand against her own uncertainty. Jack Mann, a gay man who becomes a trusted friend, shows her both the comfort and cost of hiding. With memories of Beth Hollis still shaping her choices, Laura faces questions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be herself.
What you’ll discover
- A life after heartbreak Follow Laura as she searches for friendship and a place for her feelings.
- The Village behind closed doors Enter bars, parties, and small apartments where Laura discovers a hidden world.
- Beebo's bold presence Meet a woman whose confidence draws Laura's attention and contrasts with her uncertainty.
- Friendship under pressure Discover how Jack Mann's friendship brings the comfort and cost of hiding into focus.
- The cost of honesty Explore identity through one woman's fear, hope, and desire to live without pretending.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A daughter runs from her father's house
- A job and a penthouse give her a footing
- Marcie and Burr fight, and Laura watches
- Jack Mann sees her secret and offers friendship
- Beebo Brinker enters and will not leave her alone
- Her father arrives in New York
- Burr's jealousy and Laura's hopes
- What the novel is about
- How the book is told
Who’s who
- Laura LandonA shy, bookish twenty-year-old who flees her harsh father in Chicago and struggles with a love she dares not name.
- Marcie ProffittLaura's golden-haired, talkative roommate, recently divorced and restless, who wants a different life and stirs strong feelings in Laura.
- BurrMarcie's ex-husband, an architect, who still loves her and quarrels with her constantly.
- Jack MannA witty, lonely draftsman who hides his heart behind jokes and becomes Laura's closest friend and guide.
- Beebo BrinkerA handsome, blunt, boyish girl from the Village who is drawn to Laura and hides her tenderness behind a hard shell.
- Merrill LandonLaura's domineering father, a newspaper man whose cruelty drove her away and whose arrival in New York shakes her.
- SarahLaura's kind, plain coworker at the radiologist's office, who longs for a date and worries about Laura's work.
- Terry FlemingJack's young, spoiled lover, who likes nice things and is unsure whether he loves Jack.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 42 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 5 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Sono una donna in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Sono una donna
by Ann Bannon · 1959
Laura flees her tyrannical father for New York, then falls for her golden-haired roommate in a rooftop penthouse.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What do you do when the only man in your life is the one you must escape? Ann Bannon's I Am a Woman follows Laura Landon, who leaves her father's Chicago home and takes a train to New York in January.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A daughter runs from her father's house
Laura Landon leaves Chicago one rainy night while her father, the newspaper man Merrill Landon, is out at a dinner. She tells him nothing, because she fears his sarcasm and rage.
The book shows how he rules her. He says he saved her, and he never lets her forget it. Behind it sits a second secret, a ghost at college that she will not name.
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What is I Am a Woman about?
It follows Laura Landon, who leaves her controlling father in Chicago and moves to New York. There she finds work, a roommate she falls for, and a Greenwich Village world of friends, bars and new love.
Who is Beebo Brinker?
Beebo is a handsome, boyish Village girl who works an elevator and drinks at The Cellar. She is blunt and teasing, and she falls for Laura against her better judgment.
Is I Am a Woman part of a series?
Yes. It is the second of Ann Bannon's Beebo Brinker Chronicles, following Odd Girl Out. Laura's past with Beth is referred to throughout, and the story reads clearly on its own.
The author
Ann Bannon
1932–? · American novelist
Ann Bannon is the pen name of Ann Weldy, born in Joliet, Illinois, in 1932. She wrote six novels published between 1957 and 1962, including I Am a Woman (1959). She later lived in California and taught English at California State University, Sacramento.
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