In Her Words: Women’s Fiction Highlights

Updated February 26, 2023
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Agnes Grey
Brontë, Anne
Paper Book
When her family becomes impoverished after a disastrous financial speculation, Agnes Grey determines to find work as a governess in order to contribute to their meagre income and assert her independence. But Agnes's enthusiasm is swiftly extinguished as she struggles first with the unmanageable...
A room made of leaves : a novel
Grenville, Kate
Paper Book
*NEW NOVEL RESTLESS DOLLY MAUNDER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024*FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AND WOMEN'S PRIZE-WINNING AUSTRALIAN NOVELIST SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION It is 1788. When twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth marries the arrogant and...
Circe
Miller, Madeline
Paper Book
The international Number One bestseller from the author of The Song of Achilles, shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. CIRCE. In the house of Helios, god of the sun and...
Little women
Alcott, Louisa May
Paper Book
One of the best loved books of all time.Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Lovely Meg, talented Jo, frail Beth, spoiled Amy- these are hard lessons of poverty and of growing up in New England during the Civil War. Through their...
The bell jar
Plath, Sylvia
Paper Book
'A modern classic.' Guardian 'A near-perfect work of art.' Joyce Carol Oates Sylvia Plath is a major cultural icon who continues to inspire new generations of female readers. The Bell Jar is one of the defining novels of the 20th century....
Enola Holmes and the black barouche
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Pandora's jar : women in the Greek myths
Haynes, Natalie
Paper Book
'Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to!' - Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do...
The mercies : a novel
Hargrave, Kiran Millwood
Paper Book
The Sunday Times Bestseller and BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick. For readers of Circe and The Handmaid's Tale, Kiran Millwood Hargrave's The Mercies is a story about a love that could prove as dangerous as it is powerful. Winter, 1617...
Cinderella is dead
Bayron, Kalynn
Ebook
The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Audiobook
Over one million copies sold! The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post! "Historical fiction at its best!"...
The Women Could Fly
Giddings, Megan.
Paper Book
"Megan Giddings's prose is brimming with wonder. The Women Could Fly is a candid appraisal of grief, inheritance, and the merits of unruliness." - Raven Leilani Reminiscent of the works of Margaret Atwood, Deborah Harkness, and Octavia E. Butler, The Women Could...
Vox
Dalcher, Christina.
Paper Book
'This book will blow your mind' PRIMA 'Disturbing' LEE CHILD 'A petrifying reimagining of The Handmaid's Tale' ELLE 'Left me speechless' DAILY MAIL 'Terrifying' RED 'A novel ripe for the #MeToo era' VANITY FAIR 'Extraordinary' LOUISE O'NEILL 'The...
When women were dragons a novel
Barnhill, Kelly Regan
Ebook
Girl, woman, other
Evaristo, Bernardine
Paper Book
With her historic Booker win, Bernardine Evaristo is the author everyone is talking about. The standout book of 2019, Girl, Woman, Other is the number book you need to read this year. ***WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019*** SUNDAY...
Hag : forgotten folktales retold
Paper Book
'Engaging, modern fables with a feminist tang' Sunday Times DARK, POTENT AND UNCANNY, HAG BURSTS WITH THE UNTOLD STORIES OF OUR ISLES, CAPTURED IN VOICES AS VARIED AS THEY ARE VIVID. Here are sisters fighting for the love of the same...
Not Safe For Work
Kaplan, Isabel.
Paper Book
The compulsively readable novel about a young woman trying to succeed in Hollywood without selling her soul - perfect for fans of Sweetbitter, My Dark Vanessa and Exciting Times 'Glittering. A funny, spiky, compulsive story about toxic workplaces, lean...
Hag-seed : The tempest retold
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
The 'riotous, insanely readable' (Observer) retelling of The Tempest from the 2019 Booker Prize-winning author of THE TESTAMENTS. 'Riotous, insanely readable and just the best fun...'Observer Felix...
The invisible life of Addie LaRue
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
When Addie La Rue makes a pact with the devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But there's always a price -- the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone. Addie flees her tiny hometown in 18th-Century France, beginning a journey that takes...
Ithaca
North, Claire.
Paper Book
Madam
Wynne, Phoebe
Paper Book
Mrs Dalloway
Woolf, Virginia
Paper Book
A brand new series of five of Woolf's major works, in beautifully designed hardback editions On a June morning in 1923, Clarissa Dalloway is preparing for a party and remembering her past. Elsewhere in London, Septimus Smith is suffering from shell-shock and on the brink of madness. Their days...
Salt slow
Armfield, Julia
Paper Book
In her brilliantly inventive and haunting debut collection of stories, Julia Armfield explores the body, mapping the skin and bones of her characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession, love and revenge. 'Wickedly clever prose and a sense of humour that seems to...
The witch's heart
Gornichec, Genevieve
Paper Book
When a banished witch falls in love with legendary trickster Loki, she risks the wrath of the gods in this moving, subversive debut novel that reimagines Norse mythology. Angrboda's story begins where most witch tales end: with a burning...
Spinning silver
Novik, Naomi
Paper Book
'I couldn't put it down'- Katherine Arden, author of the Winternight trilogy Rumours have drawn unexpected attention - and now her life hangs in the balance. From the author of the award-winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver is a rich, original tale...
The case of the bizarre bouquets
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
The case of the cryptic crinoline
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Gender swapped fairy tales
Fransman, Karrie
Paper Book
Discover a collection of fairy tales unlike the ones you've read before . . . Once upon a time, in the middle of winter, a King sat at a window and sewed. As he sewed and gazed out onto the landscape, he pricked his finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell onto the...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
Gender Swapped Greek Myths
Karrie Fransman
Paper Book
'Thought-provoking and charmingly rendered.' Guardian Imagine a world where seductive male sirens lure brave heroines to their death, where Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun, and where beautiful men are forced to wed underworld queens... ...
The dictionary of lost words
Williams, Pip
Paper Book
'An enchanting story about love, loss and the power of language' Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory Sometimes you have to start with what's lost to truly find yourself... Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood at...
The end of men
Sweeney-Baird, Christina
Paper Book
'A FIERCELY INTELLIGENT PAGE-TURNER' PAULA HAWKINS'WRITTEN PRE-COVID - GRIPPING, SCARY AND PERSUASIVE' IAN RANKIN'THE STUFF THAT CLASSICS ARE MADE OF' A.J. FINN'GRIPPING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN. WHAT A DEBUT!' SARAH PEARSE, author of The Sanatorium'BRILLIANT, PRESCIENT, UNPUTDOWNABLE' JENNY COLGAN...
Six of crows
Bardugo, Leigh
Paper Book
Game of Thrones meets Ocean's Eleven in this brand new fantasy epic from the #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising, Leigh Bardugo. As gripping, sweeping and memorable as the Grisha trilogy, Six of Crows...
The handmaid's tale
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ** Go back to where it all began with the dystopian novel behind the award-winning TV series. 'The Handmaid's Tale changed me profoundly, hopefully for the better' Lee Child, Guardian
Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 = Palsip yi nyeon saeng Kim Jiyeong
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
A GUARDIAN 'ONE TO LOOK OUT FOR 2020'  A RED MAGAZINE 'CAN'T WAIT TO READ' BOOK OF 2020   THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY SELLING SOUTH KOREAN SENSATION THAT HAS GOT THE WHOLE WORLD TALKING Kim Jiyoung is a...
The priory of the orange tree
Shannon, Samantha
Paper Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'The new Game of Thrones' Stylist 'Puts Samantha Shannon in the same league as Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin. Shannon is a master of dragons' Starburst ...
The once and future witches
Harrow, Alix E.
Paper Book
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Glorious . . . a tale that will sweep you away' Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Tiger 'A gorgeous and thrilling paean to the ferocious power of women' Laini Taylor,...
The Penelopiad
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
Penelope. Immortalised in legend and myth as the devoted wife of the glorious Odysseus, silently weaving and unpicking and weaving again as she waits for her husband's return.Now Penelope wanders the underworld, spinning a different kind of thread: her own side of the story - a tale of lust, greed...
Violeta
Allende, Isabel.
Paper Book
_______________THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL FROM LITERARY LEGEND ISABEL ALLENDE_______________'Epic, beautifully crafted . . . Gripping from start to finish' DAILY TELEGRAPH'A moving exploration of both the pain and the freedom of...
Island beneath the sea : a novel
Allende, Isabel.
Paper Book
From the sugar plantations of Saint-Domingue to the lavish parlours of New Orleans at the turn of the 19th century, Isabel Allende's latest novel tells the story of a mulatta woman, a slave and concubine, determined to take control of her own destiny in a society where that would seem impossible....
Home fire
Shamsie, Kamila
Paper Book
_______________ WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNER OF THE LONDON HELLENIC PRIZE A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, TELEGRAPH, NEW STATESMAN, EVENING STANDAND AND NEW YORK TIMES _______________...
Women talking
Toews, Miriam
Paper Book
A profound, unsettling and virtuosic piece of fiction from the award-winning author of All My Puny Sorrows.
Liberation
Kealey, Imogen
Paper Book
Inspired by the incredible true story of the most decorated servicewoman of the second world war. Nancy Wake was an Australian girl who, aged, 16 ran away from her abusive mother to the other side of the world. Nancy Wake was a wife who, when her husband was...
Who is Vera Kelly?
Knecht, Rosalie
Paper Book
An exhilarating page turner and perceptive coming-of-age story, Who is Vera Kelly? introduces an original, wry and whip-smart female spy for the twenty-first century.
Louis & Louise
Cohen, Julie
Paper Book
Revenge of the sluts
Walton, Natalie
Paper Book
Double standards are about to get singled out. As a lead reporter for The Warrior Weekly, Eden has covered her fair share of stories at St. Joseph's High School. And when intimate pictures of seven female students are anonymously emailed to the entire school, Eden is...
The Underground Railroad
Whitehead, Colson
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017 WINNER OF THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD 2017 LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER 2016 AMAZON.COM #1 BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016 ...
The tomb of Hercules
McDermott, Andy.
Audiobook
The royal rebel : the life of suffragette Princess Sophia Duleep Singh
Rai, Bali
Paper Book
Rebel, Princess, Suffragette: this is the incredible true story of the life of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, a forgotten heroine of the early twentieth century. Rebel, Princess, Suffragette: this is the incredible true story of the life of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, a forgotten...
The testaments
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
** WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 ** ** SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ** BOOK OF THE YEAR: Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, Stylist, Sunday Times, Financial Times, ...
The case of the left-handed lady
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
The cotton town girls
Fleming, Leah
Paper Book
A heart-warming story of female friendship in the tumultuous days of the Suffragette movement... Sophia Seddon and Grace Thompson are poles apart - the one a member of the notorious Seddons of Plover Street, the other the vicar's spoilt only child. But their...
The case of the gypsy good-bye
Springer, Nancy.
Paper Book
Her body and other parties : stories
Machado, Carmen Maria
Paper Book
'Impossible, imperfect, unforgettable.' - Roxane Gay - Demolishes the borders between magical realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism.
The long, long afternoon
Vesper, Inga
Paper Book
A gripping and beguiling debut reading group mystery for fans of Tigers in Red Weather and Tangerine.
The princess and the suffragette
Webb, Holly
Paper Book
It is 1913, nine years after the end of A Little Princess saw Sara Crewe escape Miss Minchin's orphanage. Lottie, the smallest girl from the original story, learns about the Suffragette movement from Sara, who returns to visit from time to time. Soon Lottie finds herself sneaking out of the...
The secret of excalibur
McDermott, Andy.
Paper Book

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