About this Event
PETALUMA --
Copperfield's Books is honored to welcome prolific essayist and professor Savala Nolan to Petaluma in celebration of her electrifying new collection - .
She will be joined in conversation by Eirinie Carson, friend and beloved local author.
Join us for a reading and compelling discussion followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.
This is a free event, registration recommended for seating.
A Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Ms. Magazine
A raw and lyrical exploration of the confining expectations of womanhood and, if we dare, what lies beyond those limitations—from a writer Roxane Gay calls “vibrant and thoughtful.”
Savala Nolan’s rebellion against being “good” is a rallying cry for every woman who’s ever been told to shrink, silence herself, or stay in line—proving that breaking the rules isn’t just liberating, it’s essential… and overdue.
Gorgeous, badass, and practically waiting to pounce, Good Woman: A Reckoning is acclaimed essayist Savala Nolan’s follow-up to her “standout collection” (New York Times Book Review) Don't Let It Get You Down.
A lifetime of playing by the rules of female social conditioning is not what it’s cracked up to be for Nolan. The years of making herself smaller (literally and metaphorically); the sexual advances that led to more than she wanted; the bad marriage she fought like hell to keep; all the ways others questioned her identity or choices and she let it slide to keep the peace; her silence when requested; her body when desired—none of it worked. None of it protected her the way it was advertised to.
Nolan noticed the same was true for the women around her and the women in history she read about. Across time and location, they were raised to be agreeable and “good.” Hyper-visible as sexual objects but invisible as full people. Living in a physical world created by men for men. Taking on the ultimate role of birth-giver and caretaker, yet seeing it remain an unsung act, even as it’s a God-like endeavor. Only in midlife did Nolan begin to realize she was capable of living outside these cages of conditioning so slyly insidious that they’re nearly invisible.
Good Woman elegantly probes the knotty conditions themselves, the costs of adhering to them, and what happens when one refuses to comply. The twelve stunning and unforgettable essays blend memoir, reportage, and history to create a collection that is alternately bold, brash, and explosive ... and ravishingly tender, sensual, and joyous. Nolan takes aim at big and old ideas, and she does not miss. Hers is a testimony to witness and to savor.
Author: Savala Nolan is an essayist and professor who writes about race, bodies, and gender. She helped create the Peabody Award–winning podcast The Promise, and directs the social justice program at UC Berkeley, School of Law, where she teaches about the role of identity in lawyering. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s magazine, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Forbes, LitHub, and more. Learn more at savalanolan.com or follow her on Instagram @savalanolan
Eirinie Carson is a member of the Writers Grotto in San Francisco and a frequent contributor to Mother magazine. Her work has also appeared in LitHub, Notre Dame Review, Mortal Mag, Electric Literature, The Sonora Review, and others. Bloodfire, Baby is her first novel.
Praise:
"Searing.... Nolan's lyrical prose and sharp observations make for exhilarating reading, reexamining old assumptions and opening up new possibilities. A powerful call to transcend the barriers imposed on us by society and establish new frameworks for living." - Booklist (starred review)
"Electrifying.... Startlingly clear-eyed.... Stunning in scope.... Revelatory.... Crafted with Nolan's intellectually curious, animated narration, Good Woman will resonate with readers who sense that things are not working out quite the way they should. For them, Nolan's essays offer a dynamic framework, a 'working compass' for redesigning our roles without altering or diluting the magical essence of what makes us uniquely female." - Shelf Awareness
"A defiant woman speaks out.... Race, marriage, sexual desire, and motherhood recur as themes in impassioned essays on freedom, disillusionment, and yearnings.... A raw, forthright memoir." - Kirkus Reviews
I devoured this book. Good Woman does what an excellent friend would do--provides solace, conversation, debate, and opens up new frameworks for the good life. Savala Nolan writes about the end of a marriage, the birth of a daughter, the body, and occupying several identities simultaneously. She writes with grace, wit and insight, in the tradition of writers who understand that the personal is also political. If you love the essays of Roxane Gay or Rebecca Solnit, Nolan's book will be your brilliant new companion." - Sarah Rhul, author of Smile: The Story of a Face
"When Nolan says 'I'm not grinding an ax, I am sharpening a blade. There's a difference', believe her. This is a blade of a book, and it is ours to feel the power of, to wield. The first chapter of Good Woman left my jaw agape. It is a pistol whip of an opening, and what follows is just as potent. At a time when being a woman, particularly a Black woman, feels like being a living target, I am grateful for Nolan's sharp, clear-eyed, vulnerable look at what we have decided womanhood is, who it serves, and how we move through it. Good Woman is everything we have come to expect from Nolan: blisteringly intelligent, well-honed, sharp arguments laid next to the softest and most tender parts of herself -- bared to us, encouraging us to do the same. Having this book in my corner feels like armor, it feels like a shield, it feels, not like being in the woods with a man or a bear, but rather, an army of your very own. With Nolan at our side, the past, present and future are visible all at once, and all at once it is an arresting, sobering, electrifying work." - Eirinie Carson, author of The Dead Are Gods
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Copperfield's Books Petaluma, 140 Kentucky Street, Petaluma, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 32.00
