A Girl Called Vincent

Gr 7 Up—A biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950). Raised in rural Maine, Millay (known as Vincent) overcame poverty, illness, and sexism to become one of America's most celebrated poets. Readers learn about how she cared for her family as a young girl, left home to attend Vassar College, and became the "It Girl" of Greenwich Village in New York City. The narrative is direct and clear. The facts are well researched and laid out chronologically, and students will come away with a good sense of Millay's life, which was filled with adventures and accomplishments, from writing "the greatest American opera" (according to The New Yorker) to riding horses and climbing mountains in Indonesia. The text is accompanied by relevant photos of Millay, and the layout is clean. Excerpts of her poems are expertly chosen. Comparable to Carolyn J. Brown's A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty (2012) and Song of My Life: A Biography of Margaret Walker (2014, both University Pr. of Mississippi), this is a great option to recommend to aspiring poets, writers, and feminists, as well as those who enjoy historical nonfiction.