Image 1 of 1
Release Date: September 15, 2026
Size: 5.25 x 8
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-231-6
eBook ISBN: 978-1-57869-232-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2026910744
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Info Here or with Ingram
Synopsis
It’s the summer of 1968 when Alice Kaplan, a twenty-year-old college student, is assaulted by her chauvinistic boss during a dizzying date on a Ferris wheel. She fights and flees, running home only to find her father has suddenly died of a heart attack. Unable to continue her undergraduate education at Cornell, she is catapulted into the working world where opportunities for a young woman are scarce. Struggling against the sexism of the era, a grief-stricken and naive Alice—who longs to be a writer—stumbles into the tumultuous life of a countercultural newspaper reporter in New York City.
Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, second-wave feminism, and the gay rights movement, All That I’m Asking is a fast-paced novel where one woman’s resilience and tenacity leads to liberation.
Praise
“Set in 1960s New York City, Ellen Halter’s compelling and beautifully written coming-of-age story follows a young girl as she navigates the rise of feminism, gay rights, and anti-war protests. Unsettlingly timely, it mirrors the questions we are still asking today about justice, identity, and the courage to speak out. Five stars for this timely and resonant novel.”
—Kim Fairley, author of Swimming for My Life and Shooting Out the Lights
______________________
“Ellen Halter’s beautifully written coming-of-age novel brings 1960s New York City vividly to life. Through the eyes of a young girl, the beginnings of feminism, gay liberation, and the Civil Rights and anti-war movements become immediate, intimate, and real. This resonant novel echoes the questions we are still asking today about justice and the freedom to be who we want to become.”
—Karen L. Simpson, author of Act of Grace
MeET THE AUTHOR
Ellen Halter has a PhD in rhetoric and composition from Wayne State University and has taught composition to freshmen there and at University of Toledo. She's spent the last twenty years focusing on her own writing, both fiction and poetry. She lives in the midwest with her husband.