Solo: A Memoir of Hope (Hardback)

Hope Solo thrives on competition. The post-feminist face of the modern female athlete, she's driven to win and isn't afraid to say it or show it. Determined to succeed on her own terms, she's never played it safe, even if it cost her a starting spot with the U.S. team during the 2007 World Cup. That aggressive resolve is encapsulated in her forthright, sometimes shocking, and ultimately moving memoir. At the center of her story is the sweet and sorrowful relationship Solo shared with her father, a philanderer and a con-man who was convicted of embezzlement when Solo was a child. Drifting into homelessness after prison, he finally reunited with his daughter years later, when she was in college. Reminiscent of Jeannette Walls in her acclaimed memoir "The Glass Castle", "Solo" does not judge her unconventional parent. Like her teammate Megan Rapinoe bending a masterful corner kick, "Solo" twists the familiar arc of the father-as-mentor theme to reveal how her dad not only taught her the game, but also instilled in her the athlete's mentality that defines who she is and how she plays. A woman who has repeatedly triumphed over adversity - from suddenly losing her biggest champion, her father, to her battles with the U.S. national team, to her recovery from painful shoulder surgery - "Solo's" story holds lessons and insight not only for her thousands of young fans, but for us all.