First published 2023
Pulitzer Prize winner Madeleine Blais reconstructs the remarkable life of Alice Marble, who dominated tennis in the late 1930s with an aggressive serve and volley style that revolutionized women's play. Born in San Francisco in 1913, Marble became a global celebrity after sweeping singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1939. The biography traces her journey from baseball loving teenager to Life magazine cover star, nightclub singer at the Waldorf Astoria, and Hollywood actress alongside Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Blais examines Marble's most significant achievement: her solitary campaign to break tennis's color barrier by convincing the all white US Lawn Tennis Association to allow Althea Gibson to compete in 1950. The author carefully evaluates Marble's own contradictory memoirs, particularly her sensational claims about working as a World War II spy. Blais offers readers a nuanced portrait of an athlete whose glamorous public persona masked a complex private life.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, american, sports
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: complex-protagonist, historical-figure
Setting: San Francisco, Wimbledon, United States
Period: 1930s, 1950s, World War II
432 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press