Chapters (45)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Pulse
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY–ONE
- TWENTY–TWO
- TWENTY–THREE
- TWENTY–FOUR
- TWENTY–FIVE
- TWENTY–SIX
- TWENTY–SEVEN
- TWENTY–EIGHT
- TWENTY–NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY–ONE
- THIRTY–TWO
- THIRTY–THREE
- THIRTY–FOUR
- THIRTY–FIVE
- THIRTY–SIX
- THIRTY–SEVEN
- THIRTY–EIGHT
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- RESOURCES
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Lucy had been thinking a lot about that, but for once she wasn’t jumping to make concrete plans. Everything seemed open to her—something that hadn’t been the case since she was Maddie’s brother’s age. She wanted to enjoy it. Or try to anyway.
“My mom’s got a business trip to London coming up. I’m thinking I’ll go. Spend time with her and see my dad, and then, well, I’m still weighing my options. One thing I was kicking around was asking Nishi if she’d be interested in sponsoring an incubator for girls next summer. I’d kill it organizing that.”
“You may kill everyone else while doing it,” Maddie said. “But, yeah, you would.”
Lucy felt herself getting choked up.
Was this it?
“Oh!” Delia almost dropped her drink. “I can’t believe I forgot! Nishi wants to invest in Girl Empowered! If we want to actually do it.”
“Do pterodactyls fly?” Maddie said.
“And she said we didn’t win.” Lucy snickered. “Sneaky, real sneaky, Nishi.” Lucy poured out the rest of the champagne. “Good thing when your toasts outlast your bottle, right?”
“You do know who we’re forgetting though?” Maddie said.
“Don’t say anything about Ry—”
“No,” Maddie said. “Older than that. Way older.”
Delia grinned. “It’s time she got her due. All of them. The first screen queens.”
And then Lucy realized who they meant. She held her glass high and said, “To Ada.”
“To Ada,” they repeated.
Because that was how they were all related. The women that came before, the women of now, and the ones to come.
All empowered.
For the future they’d create.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Bringing a book to life is much like founding a startup. The first thing that’s required is an unwavering belief in the idea. And that I have been lucky to find with my editor, Jessica Harriton. One look at the number of smiley faces and exclamation marks we’ve exchanged while working on this book together is proof enough of your unbound enthusiasm, for which I am eternally grateful. Thank you for your constant support, encouragement, and sharp editorial eye.
Thank you to everyone at Razorbill and Penguin Young Readers for helping Screen Queens to “go public,” in start-up lingo, and for making me feel so at home, especially Casey McIntyre and Ben Schrank (emeritus!). I owe my gratitude to Krista Ahlberg for her stellar copyediting skills and Vivian Kirklin for her strong proofreading eye. To Mallory Heyer, thank you for your beautiful cover illustration that perfectly captures each girl’s personality and strength. Thanks also to Theresa Evangelista for the impeccable jacket design and Corina Lupp for making Pulse feel like it was ripped out of an app store! My appreciation to Kaitlin Kneafsey for all her publicity magic.