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 FICTIONIt is 1788. Twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth is hungry for life but, as the...
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
This Penguin Classics edition of Louisa May Alcott's inspiring tale of sisterhood, Little Women, is edited with an introduction by Elaine Showalter. The charming story of four 'little women' - Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth - and their wise and patient mother Marmee, was an instant...
The bell jar
Plath, Sylvia
Paper Book
A student from Boston wins a guest editorship on a national magazine, and finds a new world at her feet. Her New York life is crowded with possibilities, so the choice of future is overwhelming. She is faced with the perennial problems of morality, behaviour and identity.
Enola Holmes and the black barouche
Springer, Nancy
Paper Book
Pandora's jar : women in the Greek myths
Haynes, Natalie
Paper Book
Natalie Haynes is the nation's muse' Adam RutherfordThe Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories.Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay...
Cinderella is dead
Bayron, Kalynn
Ebook
The personal librarian
Benedict, Marie
Audiobook
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!"*   A remarkable novel...
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...
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
Imagine a world where kings prick their fingers as they sew, wolves wear heels, and princesses race to rescue sleeping princes...
The color purple
Walker, Alice
Paper Book
Gender Swapped Greek Myths
Karrie Fransman
Paper Book
A new captivating, inspiring, and totally perspective-shifting volume from the wife and husband team behind Gender Swapped Fairy Tales.
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...
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 ** Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon. Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford - her assigned name, Offred, means 'of...
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's slyly brilliant side of the story, from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Blind Assassin and The Handmaid's Tale.
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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