Prairie Valkyries Don't Canter

By Cecil Homer

Book Overview

In the seventies, Jennifer challenges academic norms to earn a PhD in sociology. As a professor, she embraces her freedom to teach about the flyover Midwest and its complicated people. Along her journey, she collects Three Daddies: Bob, her estranged husband; Paul, her former Methodist minister; and Father Brian, a Catholic priest. Alone, Jennifer decides to have Valky and raise her to be a Valkyrie. She carves out her own power in a male-dominated university hierarchy by recruiting like-minded Valkyries who control everything without apology. Now retired, Jennifer returns to Plainsboro with her Three Daddies, her power intact.

In Prairie Valkyries Don't Canter, Cecil Homer explores how Jennifer and Valky obtain power beyond personal freedom in universities plagued by gender inequities. Homer invites you to share in the diverse cultures, religions, rural lives, sexual norms, and university experiences of the Midwest, all laced with its understated humor, painting a vivid picture of its people and the hard-riding Valkyries on the plains.

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"...a story about women's empowerment in academic and personal circles, moments of truth, madness and freedom, and good and bad decisions made in the heart of these milieus. It focuses on professor Jennifer's personal and professional journey as she decides to have a child while retaining her hard-won status as a female professor operating in a Midwestern man's world." - D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

"What's fascinating about Valkyries is that the writing style closely mirrors Jennifer's state of mind. On the one hand, the prose is frenetic, like the mind as it tries to fire through different and complicated processes at lightning speed...an inspired story fueled by and formed around the unapologetic feminism it depicts." - Eric Mayrhofer for Independent Book Review, Starred Review

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F727PZ7R
• ISBN13: 9798891326323
• Release Date: May 2025
• Publisher: Atmosphere Press
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"