Overview

In August 1939, Alice Marble graced the cover of Life magazine, photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt. She was a glamorous worldwide celebrity, having that year won singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles tennis titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open, then an unprecedented feat. Yet today one of America's greatest female athletes and most charismatic characters is largely forgotten. Queen of the Court places her back on center stage. Given a tennis racket at thirteen, she took to the sport immediately, rising to the top with a powerful, aggressive serve-and-volley style unseen in women's tennis. A champion at the height of her fame in the late 1930s, she also designed a clothing line and sang as a performer. World War II derailed her amateur tennis career, but her life off the court was even more eventful. Perhaps her greatest legacy lies in her successful efforts to persuade the all-white US Lawn Tennis Association to change its policy and allow African American star Althea Gibson to compete for the US championship in 1950, thereby breaking tennis's color barrier. In two memoirs, Marble showed herself to be an at-times unreliable narrator of her own life, which Madeleine Blais navigates skillfully, especially Marble's claims of having been a spy during World War II. In Queen of the Court, Blais recaptures a glittering life story.

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"The definitive account of Marble's life.-- ""Publishers Weekly Starred Review"""

Author Information

Madeleine Blais was a reporter for the Miami Herald for years before joining the faculty of the School of Journalism at the University of Massachusetts. She is the author of In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle, Uphill Walkers, and The Heart Is an Instrument, a collection of her journalism. Madeleine lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. Moniqua Plante is an award-winning TV, film, and theater actor, with a BA in literature and theater (making audiobook narration a match made in heaven). Her sultry, strong, playful, textured voice will take you on an action-packed adventure with the badass-beautiful heroine or give you a sneaky peek into a sweeping and steamy romance. Her low tones can conjure a magical coven of witches or creep you out with a cool confident killer, then ease you into mindfulness with a soulful meditation. Give her all the adventure, magic, mystery, romance, and self-help-and you'll be in business! She's been a series regular on Amazon Prime's hit comedy series Dirty Cues and a fan favorite with her juicy season-long storyline on ABC's Emmy-nominated show Nashville. She's guest-starred on notable shows such as Alan Ball's original series Banshee, John Well's Southland, Drop Dead Diva, Gilmore Girls, and the pulp anthology series Femme Fatales. Moniqua is also an award-winning independent film producer who has accumulated fourteen film festival wins, including Breakout Action Star and four Best Actress awards. Moniqua is also a certified health and life coach with Moniqua Plante Wellness, dedicated to helping actors and creative professionals take real care of themselves, feel good in their own skin-and crazy confident in everything they do. It is truly her belief that your health and wellness can directly affect everything else you do in life, especially as a creative. Her path to wellness began with her rectifying those challenging areas in her own life so they wouldn't show up in her work. And her training as a coach makes self-help books a total no-brainer. When she's not performing or coaching, Moniqua loves to travel and pretty much everything outdoors. She's worked in action sports for the ESPN X-Games. She's lived in Spain and traveled through Europe-from snowboarding in Chamonix, France, to exploring the ocean caves of Croatia. Her other favorite pastimes include blissing out beachside, practicing yoga, hiking, snowboarding, curling up with a good book, and/or sharing good food and good wine with friends and family. She currently lives, loves, and works in Los Angeles, California.

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