Shame The Devil by Debra Brenegan

From the author's website... "Shame the Devil is a novel based on the life and works of nineteenth-century American novelist, journalist and feminist, Fanny Fern. The book covers Fanny Fern’s life (1811-1872), but concentrates on the 1850s and 1860s when her literary career became established and her personal life was a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Fanny Fern was the most popular, highest paid, most published writer of her era. She outsold Harriet Beecher Stowe, won the respect of Nathaniel Hawthorne and served as literary mentor to Walt Whitman. She scrabbled in the depths of poverty before her meteoric rise to fame and fortune. She was widowed, escaped an abusive second marriage, penned one of the country’s first pre-nuptial agreements, married a third man eleven years her junior, and served as a 19th-century “Oprah” to her hundreds of thousands of fans. Fanny Fern’s weekly editorials in the pages of The New York Ledger over a period of about twenty years help to chronicle the myriad of controversial issues of her era while her novels, and the critical response to them, both in her day and through subsequent eras, make clear how America’s literary tradition began to and continues to define itself. This novel strives for historical accuracy, not only regarding Fanny Fern and the events of her life, but in regard to other historical figures of her time including Walt Whitman, Catharine Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Jacobs, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, N.P. Willis and James Parton."

Ten Things to Love About Fanny Fern

By Debra Brenegan

1. Fanny Fern got years of education at a time when most women weren’t educated. Why? Because her dad found her too boisterous to have around the house. He sent her to boarding schools to see if they could control her. (They couldn’t.)

2. Fanny Fern didn’t betray her belief systems. When her father pressured her to conform to his religious beliefs, even as a child, she politely and firmly refused.

3. Fanny Fern recognized the value of nature. She immersed herself in the outdoors and found healing and solace in flowers, birds, hiking and tree climbing.

4. Fanny Fern believed it was okay for women to take their time choosing life partners. She shunned the system that raced infatuated couples to the altar and advocated getting to know a future partner over a period of time to ensure real compatibility.

5. Fanny Fern believed children should be raised, by both parents, with love and firmness rather than with sternness and rigidity. She was eons ahead of her era regarding healthy child rearing principles.

6. Fanny Fern believed all people should pursue individual passions and should be responsible for making their own life decisions and for supporting and taking care of themselves if they are able. For those unable to take care of themselves, Fern advocated liberal social justice programs to make sure nobody (the uneducated, the mentally ill, the imprisoned, the sick, the dying, the widowed and orphaned, the disabled, the poor, the unemployed, etc.) should fall between the cracks.

7. Fanny Fern divorced a man who abused her – she knew it was not her fault. Then she married a man who adored her – and he was 11 years younger than she was. She didn’t care what society thought about her choices. She did what was right for her.

8. Fanny Fern took pride in taking charge of her finances. She penned one of the country’s first prenuptial agreements and made her own decisions about investments, writing contracts and major purchases.

9. Fanny Fern picked out her own name and didn’t change it to someone else’s when she got married.

10. Fanny Fern often opened her house to many guests. She shared her joy, warmth and wisdom with anyone who needed or wanted it. But, when she was feeling ill, she didn’t act like a martyr – she took care of herself.


About the author...Debra Brenegan grew up in the Milwaukee area and graduated with a B.A. in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She worked as a journalist and taught at Milwaukee Area Technical College before beginning her graduate work. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English/Creative Writing from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she also taught. She teaches English and Women’s Studies at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. For her fiction, she has received a Ragdale residency and was a recent finalist for the John Gardner Memorial Fiction Prize, The Cincinnati Review’s Schiff Prose Prize, and the Crab Creek Review Fiction Prize. Her work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Calyx, Tampa Review, Natural Bridge, The Laurel Review, RE:AL, The Southern Women’s Review, The Cimarron Review, Milwaukee Magazine, Phoebe, and other publications. Debra Brenegan’s novel, Shame the Devil, is a historical account of nineteenth-century American writer Fanny Fern (SUNY Press, Excelsior Editions). She is currently working on another novel, set in Missouri, and on a short story collection. During the school year, Debra lives in a 130-year-old house in Fulton with her husband, Steve, and their elderly cat. They spend summers and school breaks in their native Milwaukee. When not teaching, writing, spending time with family or driving back and forth to Wisconsin, Debra enjoys cooking, gardening, reading and traveling. You can visit her website at www.debrabrenegan.com or visit her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/dbrenegan or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/debra.brenegan; https://www.facebook.com/#!/shame.the.devil.book