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Becoming Mia
Mia Brower is determined to have a career. She struggles with the bias against women in technical fields and with the ugly politics of the war.
2018? No, 1964. At Harvard, the preppies know they own the world, the brilliant want to excel, and the girls want an MRS degree.
While struggling against those expectations, Mia falls in love and faces moral dilemmas as society is swept up in the sexual revolution.
She wants to become herself, but who is she?
2018? No, 1964. At Harvard, the preppies know they own the world, the brilliant want to excel, and the girls want an MRS degree.
While struggling against those expectations, Mia falls in love and faces moral dilemmas as society is swept up in the sexual revolution.
She wants to become herself, but who is she?
377 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2018
About the author
Wendy Teller
4 books3 followersWendy Teller was a systems and software engineer in the process control and telecommunications industries. Now that she is retired, she writes fiction, memoir, and history. Her stories have appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Naperville Sun, and Rivulets. Her story Dusting the Towels received the Richard Eastman Prose Award.
Wendy’s books include Becoming Mia, a story of coming of age in the turbulent 1960s, and Hungarian Rhapsody, about a young woman who wants to follow her own dreams in the repressive culture of 1905 Hungary. Hungarian Elegy, the Hungarian Rhapsody‘s sequel, follows our heroine as she works for women’s rights in Budapest.
Wendy and her husband, science fiction and fantasy author Richard F. Weyand, live on a cliff in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana.
Wendy’s books include Becoming Mia, a story of coming of age in the turbulent 1960s, and Hungarian Rhapsody, about a young woman who wants to follow her own dreams in the repressive culture of 1905 Hungary. Hungarian Elegy, the Hungarian Rhapsody‘s sequel, follows our heroine as she works for women’s rights in Budapest.
Wendy and her husband, science fiction and fantasy author Richard F. Weyand, live on a cliff in the woods near Bloomington, Indiana.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 23, 2019
Mia took me back to the 1960s when I started college. In fact, we started and ended in the same years. I distinctly remember linen service sheets in the dorm, folk songs, house mothers, dress up dinners on campus, and sign in and sign out sheets for women. Mia attends Harvard and college life for her is like my life was in college, including girls whose intentions were to get their MRS degree, just like Mia's roomate, Jamie.
Mia has her sights on a career in mathematics, which is unusual for a girl in the 1960s, but she perservers and we follow her path as she returns to her home in Berkeley to attend grad school there. While Mia is a serious student, she also finds herself in relationships with young men during the sexual revolution, who wrestle with their consciences about the Viet Nam war.
My husband, a Navy man, was stationed in the Bay Area during the late 1960s and the demonstrations against the war depicted in the story brought back memories of seeing the effects of riots on the Berkeley campus.
The author has a way with words and I enjoyed my vicarious adventures in the Ivy League schools. But I wonder how many of those college students were exempt from the draft because they attended elite schools.
Thanks for the memories, Wendy Teller. I'll be looking for your next novel.
Mia has her sights on a career in mathematics, which is unusual for a girl in the 1960s, but she perservers and we follow her path as she returns to her home in Berkeley to attend grad school there. While Mia is a serious student, she also finds herself in relationships with young men during the sexual revolution, who wrestle with their consciences about the Viet Nam war.
My husband, a Navy man, was stationed in the Bay Area during the late 1960s and the demonstrations against the war depicted in the story brought back memories of seeing the effects of riots on the Berkeley campus.
The author has a way with words and I enjoyed my vicarious adventures in the Ivy League schools. But I wonder how many of those college students were exempt from the draft because they attended elite schools.
Thanks for the memories, Wendy Teller. I'll be looking for your next novel.
May 27, 2018
5.0 out of 5 starsa captivating look back, with much to offer for today - an important story well told.
BySue A. Freivaldon May 15, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Becoming Mia was a bittersweet experience for me. Wendy Teller's story covers exactly the time frame and experiences when I was Becoming Me. Teller has a captured the sense and flavor of those turbulent times with grace and honesty. Her characters are truly drawn, her description of the times and issues, the ignorance of youth and awareness of the academic experience are brilliantly handled. This woman can write! If I had not experienced much of what the people in this story experienced, it would still have been a rich introduction to a time with great historical importance and impact which resonates in today's world. The issues of beauty and clarity were deftly handled. Mathematics and design - wow. My husband has his PhD in mathematics and I watched the struggle for new and creative insights unfold. Teller nailed it. The introduction of the issues of communism, infiltration, and true patriotic honesty were presented without apology and in a context of honest human conflict. None of this would matter if Wendy Teller hadn't been a consummate story teller. Well done!
BySue A. Freivaldon May 15, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Becoming Mia was a bittersweet experience for me. Wendy Teller's story covers exactly the time frame and experiences when I was Becoming Me. Teller has a captured the sense and flavor of those turbulent times with grace and honesty. Her characters are truly drawn, her description of the times and issues, the ignorance of youth and awareness of the academic experience are brilliantly handled. This woman can write! If I had not experienced much of what the people in this story experienced, it would still have been a rich introduction to a time with great historical importance and impact which resonates in today's world. The issues of beauty and clarity were deftly handled. Mathematics and design - wow. My husband has his PhD in mathematics and I watched the struggle for new and creative insights unfold. Teller nailed it. The introduction of the issues of communism, infiltration, and true patriotic honesty were presented without apology and in a context of honest human conflict. None of this would matter if Wendy Teller hadn't been a consummate story teller. Well done!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews