Ruth Doan MacDougall

Fact and Fiction . . . the Girl Scout trip

“The main thing they learned in Washington was to inhale. They’d stayed at a Girl Scout camp . . ." (THE CHEERLEADER)

In this just-published essay Ruth shares her 1955 diary entries about a trip that was the inspiration for an event from THE CHEERLEADER.

"Girl Scout Trip with Gail" is also a tribute to Ruth's friend Gail Jordan Russwurm. As Ruth says, "For some time I've been pondering how to write a tribute without its being formal or sad, and at last I hit upon a way, using our Girl Scout trip."
The Girl Scout Trip With Gail

"THE SNOWY SERIES" OF NOVELS:

THE CHEERLEADER

The six-decade story of Snowy, Bev, Puddles, and the Gang begins here! This best-selling novel about high school in the Fabulous Fifties is a modern-day classic that has become a “favorite book” for countless readers.: more about this book
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SNOWY

What happens when ex-cheerleaders grow up? This sequel chronicles Snowy’s next thirty years and also follows the lives of her best friends, as they all cope with college, marriage, and careers.: more about this book
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HENRIETTA SNOW

What happens next to Snowy and the Gang, turning fifty and—eek!—sixty as the millennium approaches? How do they reshape their dreams and their lives?: more about this book
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THE HUSBAND BENCH
or BEV'S BOOK

While Snowy, Puddles, and the rest of the Gunthwaite Gang are included in this story, it is definitely “Bev’s Book,” picking up where HENRIETTA SNOW left off with Bev and Roger’s announcement that they are going to renew their marriage vows.
"Ruth Doan MacDougall is a generous writer. She's generous to her characters and readers. I count myself among those who thank her for her newest book, THE HUSBAND BENCH or BEV'S BOOK." —Rebecca Rule, Concord Monitor

From Ruth Doan MacDougall's Mailbox

Sides to Middle
and Barbara Pym

June 6, 2010

After I’d written “Children of the Great Depression” for the Ruth’s Neighborhood section, my friend Lib Kennedy wrote me about how her mother had torn worn-out bed sheets in half and stitched up the sides into a center seam. “It made the sheet smaller,” she said, “but still usable.” I quoted her description in a Mailbox piece called “More Frugalities,” and when we next got together she showed me one of the sheets she still had and still used.

Last month when I was rereading Barbara Pym’s Some Tame Gazelle, first published in 1950, I reached a scene in which the seamstress has come to the home of Belinda, the main character, and Belinda is telling her the things to be done:

“I think the chair covers are the most important, and then there are the new bathroom curtains and some sheets to be put sides to middle . . .”

I immediately shot off a note to Lib, telling her about this. It’s probably been twenty-five years since I first read the book, and back then I didn’t know what “sides to middle” meant, so the term went right past me and I forgot it. Now, thanks to Lib, I do know.

P.S. Progress Report. I'm now working on the last chapter of the first draft of A Born Maniac or Puddles's Progress. I hope to finish the final draft by the end of the year, so that the publication date will be 2011.

Meanwhile, because Mutual Aid seems a natural for reading groups, I’ve written a guide for it and we’re trying to reach as many groups as we can find, to alert them to the novel’s possibilities. If you belong to a group or know of one, perhaps you could recommend it? Please e-mail the website if you'd like to learn more about how this process might work. We'll pass your inquiry on to Plaidswede, the publisher.

RUTH'S NEIGHBORHOOD
Updated June 16, 2010

As her time permits, Ruth Doan MacDougall writes essays about life in and around her neighborhood. All entries are now available in Ruth's Neighborhood Blog; the current essay is also available here on the Web site.
neighborhood blog

current entry: "Easy Winter" (added June 16 2010)

Fact and Fiction . . . the Girl Scout trip

"THE SNOWY SERIES" OF NOVELS:

THE CHEERLEADER

SNOWY

HENRIETTA SNOW

THE HUSBAND BENCH or BEV'S BOOK

From Ruth Doan MacDougall's Mailbox

Sides to Middle and Barbara Pym

Reader's Circle

Mutual Aid

RUTH'S NEIGHBORHOODUpdated June 16, 2010

THE HUSBAND BENCH
or BEV'S BOOK

Sides to Middle
and Barbara Pym

RUTH'S NEIGHBORHOOD
Updated June 16, 2010