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In Her Words: Women’s Fiction Highlights
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Updated February 26, 2023
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Wyndham Library
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Agnes Grey
Brontë, Anne
Paper Book
The well-educated daughter of a penniless clergyman, Agnes Grey is treated like a child by her family and so sets out to prove herself by seeking employment as a governess. Soon, however, her idealistic notions regarding the education and care of her wards are dashed as she battles to control the...
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Circe
Miller, Madeline
Paper Book
This #1 New York Times bestseller is a "bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story" that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey (Alexandra Alter, TheNew York Times). In the house of Helios,...
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Moxie
Mathieu, Jennifer
Paper Book
Now a Netflix Original Film directed by Amy Poehler! "Moxie is sweet, funny, and fierce. Read this and then join the fight."--Amy Poehler An unlikely teenager starts a feminist revolution at a small-town Texas high school in this novel from...
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Little women
Alcott, Louisa May
Paper Book
Louisa May Alcott's classic tale of four sisters in a deluxe hardcover edition,with beautiful cover illustrations by Anna Bond, the artist behind world-renowned stationery brand Rifle Paper Co. Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. The four March sisters...
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The bell jar
Plath, Sylvia
Paper Book
A Special Hardcover Edition to Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of Sylvia Plath's Remarkable Novel "It is this perfectly wrought prose and the freshness of Plath's voice in The Bell Jar that make this book enduring in its appeal." -- USA Today ...
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Does My Body Offend You?
Mayra Cuevas
Paper Book
A timely story of two teenagers who discover the power of friendship, feminism, and standing up for what you believe in, no matter where you come from. A collaboration between two gifted authors writing from alternating perspectives, this compelling novel shines with authenticity, courage, and...
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Enola Holmes and the black barouche
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
"A young girl who is empowered, capable, and smart...the Enola Holmes book series convey an impactful message that you can do anything if you set your mind to it, and it does so in an exciting and adventurous way."--Millie Bobby Brown Enola Holmes is back! Nancy Springer's...
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The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Paper Book
In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture on the New York society scene and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world as she helps build a world-class collection. But...
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The mercies : a novel
Hargrave, Kiran Millwood
Paper Book
After the men in an Arctic Norwegian town are wiped out, the women must survive a sinister threat in this "perfectly told" 1600s parable of "a world gone mad" (Adriana Trigiani). Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on...
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The Women Could Fly
Giddings, Megan.
Paper Book
Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Shirley Jackson, and Octavia Butler, a biting social commentary from the acclaimed author of Lakewood that speaks to our times--a piercing dystopian novel about the unbreakable bond between a young woman and her mysterious mother, set in a world in...
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Vox
Dalcher, Christina.
Paper Book
ONE OF ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S AND SHEREADS' BOOKS TO READ AFTER THE HANDMAID'S TALE "[An] electrifying debut."--O, The Oprah Magazine * "The real-life parallels will make you shiver."--Cosmopolitan Set in a United States in which half the population...
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When women were dragons a novel
Barnhill, Kelly Regan
Paper Book
A GOODREADS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A fiery feminist fantasy tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman's place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. ...
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Girl, woman, other
Evaristo, Bernardine
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE "A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood . . . An impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves . . . Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with...
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Not Safe For Work
Kaplan, Isabel.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * FINALIST FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION'S FIRST NOVEL PRIZE * "An intoxicating exploration of male-dominated workplaces . . . NSFW is gripping, with a lot to unpack, making it excellent book-club fodder."--TIME Named an...
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Ella enchanted
Levine, Gail Carson.
Paper Book
This beloved Newbery Honor-winning story about a feisty heroine is sure to enchant readers new and old. At her birth, Ella of Frell receives a foolish fairy's gift--the "gift" of obedience. Ella must obey any order, whether it's to hop on one foot for a day and a half, or to chop off...
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Hag-seed : The tempest retold
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The beloved author of The Handmaid's Tale reimagines Shakespeare's final, great play, The Tempest, in a gripping and emotionally rich novel of passion and revenge. "A marvel of gorgeous yet...
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The invisible life of Addie LaRue
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER USA TODAY BESTSELLER NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER THE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER Recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, NPR, Slate, and Oprah...
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Ithaca
North, Claire.
Paper Book
From the multi-award-winning author Claire North comes a daring reimagining that breathes life into ancient myth and gives voice to the women who stand defiant in a world ruled by ruthless men. It's time for the women of Ithaca to tell their tale . . . "North...
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Madam
Wynne, Phoebe
Paper Book
"The simmering menace and mystery kept me absolutely gripped...a smoldering novel that I could not put down." --Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne "Rebecca meets The Secret History: gloriously dark, gloriously Gothic." --Sara Collins...
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Mrs Dalloway
Woolf, Virginia
Paper Book
Mrs. Dalloway chronicles a June day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway-a day that is taken up with running minor errands in preparation for a party and that is punctuated, toward the end, by the suicide of a young man she has never met. In giving an apparently ordinary day such...
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The witch's heart
Gornichec, Genevieve
Paper Book
Angrboda's story begins where most witch's tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to give him knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into a remote forest. There she is found by a man Loki, and her initial distrust grows into a...
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The Black Coats
Oakes, Colleen.
Paper Book
ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE. IF YOU HURT US, WE'RE COMING FOR YOU. Moxie meets Female of the Species in this powerful, thrilling, and deeply resonant novel about a secret society of girls who plot revenge on the men who hurt them. The enigmatic Black Coats have been exacting...
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Spinning silver
Novik, Naomi
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "One of the year's strongest fantasy novels" (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted.NEBULA AND HUGO AWARD FINALIST * NAMED ONE OF PASTE'S...
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The case of the bizarre bouquets
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes, disguised as a beautiful woman, finds clues in floral bouquets as she searches for the missing Doctor Watson, a companion of her famous older brother, Sherlock.
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The case of the cryptic crinoline
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Enola#65533;s landlady, Mrs. Tupper, is the closest thing Enola has to family these days, besides her occasional run-ins with her brother Sherlock. Even though Mrs. Tupper is nearly deaf and can barely cook, she#65533;s an endearing presence as Enola longs for her absent mother. So imagine her...
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The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that tells the story of two sisters through their correspondence. With a new Preface by the author.
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The dictionary of lost words
Williams, Pip
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * "Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded."--The New York Times Book Review "A marvelous...
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Six of crows
Bardugo, Leigh
Paper Book
See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 streaming now! Meet Kaz Brekker and his crew: Jesper, Inej, Wylan, and the star-crossed Nina and Matthias, on the heist of a lifetime in Six of Crows from #1...
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The handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from "the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction" (The New York Times). Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss. Look for The Testaments, the...
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Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 = Palsip yi nyeon saeng Kim Jiyeong
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
Truly, flawlessly, completely, she became that person. In a small, tidy apartment on the outskirts of the frenzied metropolis of Seoul lives Kim Jiyoung. A thirtysomething-year-old "millennial everywoman," she has recently left her white-collar desk job--in order to care for her newborn...
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The priory of the orange tree
Shannon, Samantha
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling "epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones" (Bustle). NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: AMAZON (Top 100 Editors Picks and Science Fiction and Fantasy) * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * BOOKPAGE...
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The once and future witches
Harrow, Alix E.
Paper Book
"A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women. The characters live, bleed, and roar. "―Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best...
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The Penelopiad
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
"Homer's Odyssey is not the only version of the story. Mythic material was originally oral, and also local -- a myth would be told one way in one place and quite differently in another. I have drawn on material other than the Odyssey, especially for the details of Penelope's...
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Violeta
Allende, Isabel.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * This sweeping novel from the author of A Long Petal of the Sea tells the epic story of Violeta Del Valle, a woman whose life spans one hundred years and bears witness to the greatest upheavals of the twentieth century. "An immersive saga...
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Ines of my soul
Allende, Isabel.
Paper Book
A passionate tale of love, freedom, and conquest from the New York Times bestselling author of The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende. Born into a poor family in Spain, Inés Suárez, finds herself condemned to a life of poverty without opportunity as a lowly seamstress. But it's the...
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Island beneath the sea : a novel
Allende, Isabel.
Paper Book
"Allende is a master storyteller at the peak of her powers." -- Los Angeles Times From the sugar plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlors of New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century, the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Isabel Allende (Inés of...
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Home fire
Shamsie, Kamila
Paper Book
"Ingenious... Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I've read in a novel this century." --The New York Times WINNER OF THE 2018 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD LONGLISTED FOR...
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Women talking
Toews, Miriam
Paper Book
The internationally bestselling novel based on real events. Now a major motion picture from writer/director Sarah Polley, starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, with Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand. "This amazing, sad, shocking, but touching novel, based on a real...
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Liberation
Kealey, Imogen
Paper Book
Inspired by the true story of World War II's greatest heroine, this international bestseller and "cinematic treat" tells the story of Nancy Wake and the impact she had on the world (Publishers Weekly). Hero. Soldier. Spy. Leader. Her name is Nancy Wake. ...
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Who is Vera Kelly?
Knecht, Rosalie
Paper Book
New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. Doing night shifts at a radio station, her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills are noticed by a CIA recruiter. Next thing she knows she's in Buenos Aires, wiretapping...
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Uprooted
Novik, Naomi
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NEBULA AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL * Naomi Novik, author of the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale. HUGO AWARD FINALIST * NAMED...
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The Underground Railroad
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * "An American masterpiece" (NPR) that chronicles a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. One of The New York Times's 10...
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The testaments
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE * The Testaments is a modern masterpiece, a powerful novel that can be read on its own or as a companion to Margaret Atwood's classic, The Handmaid's Tale. More than fifteen years after the events of...
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The red tent
Diamant, Anita
Paper Book
Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient...
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The case of the left-handed lady
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Don't miss Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess! Now a Netflix original movie starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter! Enola Holmes--younger sister to Sherlock Holmes--is back on another case! Enola Holmes is...
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The case of the gypsy good-bye
Springer, Nancy.
Paper Book
After fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes seeks the missing Duquessa Del Campo in the seedy underbelly of nineteenth-century London, she finally reaches an understanding with her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft.
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Her body and other parties : stories
Machado, Carmen Maria
Paper Book
Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction "[These stories] vibrate with originality, queerness, sensuality and the strange."--Roxane Gay "In these formally brilliant and emotionally charged tales, Machado gives literal shape to women's memories and...
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