I lent this book to a tennis-loving friend and he enjoyed it quite a bit. However, he only recently returned it to me... unfortunately it has taken some time for me to read & review. What a different time it was when Lottie lived -- and what a talented and fascinating woman she was! What I like most about the book was how it provided an unusual glimpse into the life of a woman who was born, grew up and came of age during Victorian & Edwardian times. ( )

Lottie Dod was a superstar, in just about anything she tried, but she is most well known for her prowess in tennis. A great look at her privileged life and at society back then. And what it was like to be a woman. ( )

What a fascinating women! Lottie's story is one that spans a period of great change in the world and as a person on the forefront of the rise of professional sports, she stands at the center of much of that change. Even though I don't consider myself a sport's fan, I was deeply interested in the variety of directions that Lottie took her sporting abilities. The only thing I would mark as a hindrance on the book is that some of the contextual information (suffrage movement, WWI events, etc.) could have been a little better tied to Lottie's personal story. I hope that in the future more stories and information about Lottie's life comes to the forefront! ( )

A) Doing anything, particularly highly active things, in victorian ladies' dress is remarkable. 2) Holy shit, what an impressive list of life activities - most professional level competition: repeat Wimbledon (tennis) champion, olympic silver medalist in archery, British golf champion, endurance bicyclist, field hockey player, mountaineer, tobogganist!!, ice skater, WWI hospital volunteer, madrigal singer. III) Winning exhibitions against her male contemporaries, founding a women's field hockey club, exercising her right to vote with the first generation of british women able to do so. …._) Dude, how fucking delightful would it be to not have to make money and have the means to fully explore your passions and talents?

#drunkreview ( )

What a marvelously … complete … book. Beautiful Introduction and chapters with titles that are meaningful and a photo pertaining to the period of her life under discussion. Later chapters, with no published photos available, have her Red Cross card, an Oriana Madrigals ad with her listed as Hon. Sec., and a hand-written list of her tournaments won and trophies accumulated. There is a longish Acknowledgements section, Select Bibliography, and Endnotes with the fascinating details pertaining to each footnote.

And the photos are exceptional, both on the dust jacket and in a satisfying-large glossy section about 1/3 of the way in. I went back to those photos over and over again, trying to see the woman behind the legend.

In some biographies, speculation about the subject’s thoughts or actions can seem intrusive or arrogant, but Abramsky’s clear respect for and thorough research of her life and times make them part of the mystery that, unfortunately, has become Lottie Dod.

From the Introduction: Lottie Dod’s letters and most of her photo albums – a different album for each sport – her hockey stick and alpenstock, one of her archery bows, and other meager possessions were parceled out to relatives. Her brother Tony’s oldest son kept many of these in the cellar of his large farmhouse in the village of Chievely, in the county of Berkshire. And, as one generation gave way to another and to another after that, over the decades many of these records of her life vanished – disappeared in estate sales, perhaps thrown away as unwanted clutter. What was left of Dod’s eighty-eights were shards, ghostly glimpses, in archives, in collectors’ albums, in newspaper morgues, of the larger-than-life achievements of the Little Wonder, that most out-of-the-ordinary Victorian lady. p 34

Lottie Dod’s record of being the youngest women’s Singles champion at Wimbledon still stands. Decades before Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in The Battle of the Sexes, Lottie Dod beat several renowned male tennis players of the day. She excelled at tennis, golf, field hockey, mountaineering, and archery. She seems a restless creature, getting bored with a sport once mastered, always excepting golf, which she played with her brother William well into her 70s.

She never married, spent most of her adult life living with one brother or another, then finally by herself as brothers married and brothers died. She suffered with sciatica most of her late teenage and all of her adult life. She was a Renaissance woman, being gifted at sports, singing, and playing piano. She selflessly volunteered during WWI. Interestingly, she never liked the nickname "Lottie", but that's how the world knew her.

Abramsky places her in the larger context of the English class system, the Suffragette movement, prejudice against women in sports, and both World Wars.

Well worth the read. ( )