Book recommendations – strong women overcoming adversity

[MegEmski]

Hello, looking for some recommendations! Currently really enjoying books about women overcoming difficult situations and coming out to a brighter place.
I’m happy with either the chick lit end of the market – for instance like Francesca’s Party by Patricia Scanlan (founds her husband cheating on her, dumps him, makes amazing new life for herself) or more serious – overcoming / getting rid of abusive partners – as long as still fairly easily readable, even if the content is dark or more difficult. If that makes sense?
Currently love a nice strong protagonist that finishes out on top! Happy endings are necessary….

Thanks!

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine -it goes very dark, but it’s all to do with a traumatic past, very easy to read, sad but comic and ultimately uplifting. About loneliness and finding your way out of the dark and learning to see good in the world, and how to live in it.

Where’d You Go Bernadette - smart funny, has an edge to it and not a traditional “romantic” happy ending, but definitely a strong woman finding her path again, and an uncomplicated, loving, mother-daughter relationship is the one that carries you through.

Vanity Fair.

The Break by Marion Keyes (actually pretty much any of hers but that's the latest one)

Station Eleven (sort of happy ending)

oooh I've read all of Marian Keyes, love (most) of them

Thanks will look up these others!

Satsuki, they are two of my favourite books!

Yes definitely two of my favourites recently. Not what I would normally have picked up, but was recommended them and now I’m recommending as much as I can too

This is non-fiction but very readable: Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It was made into a film with Reese Witherspoon.

Prodigal summer by Barbara king solver. Happy ending and uplifting. Beautiful writing. Strong female protagonist. Ticks all your boxes I think.

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer. Seriously.

The Thornbirds.

Big Little Lies.

A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford.

Opposite ends of the spectrum, but Watermelon by Marian Keyes and Occupy me by Tricia Sullivan. (Pearl in the latter is absolutely a strong woman overcoming many kinds of adversity. She kicks arse mentally and physically. There's also a quetzalcoatlus. There aren't really enough of those in fiction these days

Seconding The Prodigal Summer and would recommend giving it two chapters before you give up - I found the opening deeply irritating but stuck with it and have re-read it several times since, it's beautiful.

Secret life of bees
Vilette

Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd.

It starts with a woman doing research on the chimpanzee reserve and the difficulties she faces there when she makes a discovery that goes against the research centre's interests, but also covers her life in England before she went to Africa and the experiences she had that led her to leave.

It's very good and the main character is absolutely a strong woman who overcomes a lot.

Not sure if this quite fits the bill but if battling the humdrum of everyday life counts as battling adversity and if you’re lucky enough not to have already had the pleasure of reading it for the first time, I would definitely recommend The Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield - a hilarious precursor to Bridget Jones, I Don’t Know How She Does It, etc, etc...