What "life changing" books should we be encouraging our young daughters to read?

[Figmentofmyimagination]

I have an upper sixth DD about to head off (grades permitting) in October and one of my greatest pleasures is passing her stuff to read that might help her as she starts to figure out how things work - especially with an election coming up and her first vote. Recent suggestions that seem to have caught her imagination include:

• Virginia Woolf - a room of her own
• Owen jones - the establishment
• Laura bates - everyday sexism

There are so many others. I'd be interested to hear what good thought-provoking books anyone else is passing to their DDs, especially the run up to their first vote!

I would ask her for her recommendations, things she has discovered?

At that age Our Bodies Ourselves was just wonderful for me. Maybe outdated now.

Against Our Will is IMO one of the great feminist classics, routinely misquoted and misused but all the more essential for that.

The Prospect Before Her by Olwen Hufton was just a box of delights.

My Brilliant Career
Howard's End
The Great Gatsby

Anything by travel writer Dervla Murphy - starting with her classic 'Full Tilt'

Agree with so many of these, but would add The Audacity to Believe by Dr Sheila Cassidy.

Kaffir Boy - Mark Mathabane

This is an extraordinary and powerful account of the brutality and degradation black people suffered under the apartheid regime. A recognised classic, Mark Mathabane's remarkable story of life under apartheid is told with remarkable and relentless honesty. The reader is given a rare personal glimpse behind the televised protests and boycotts and into the daily fear and hunger which was so devastating. Often compared to Richard Wright's "Black Boy" and Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man", "Kaffir Boy" is a memoir of growing up in a world where poverty, hopelessness, and desperation are constant companions. Written with courage and conviction, Mathabane reveals the ultimate triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable disgrace.

The L shaped Room
Lynne Reid Banks