Books on feminism or fiction with female protagonists

[Whatdoyawannado]

I'm really interested in some recommendations of feminist books or fiction that has strong female protagonists. Thanks!

I just finished Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars which I found really interesting
www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/12/square-haunting-five-women-freedom-london-between-wars-francesca-wade-review

It's non-fiction but I write about being a solo woman walking across America during the pandemic, and those experiences which shape us.

Everything You Ever Taught Me.

www.amazon.co.uk/Everything-You-Ever-Taught-Me/dp/1527295745/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BUS6X1ZAC07M&keywords=everything+you+ever+taught+me&sprefix=everything+you+ever+taught+me%2Caps%2C71&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1647776453&sr=8-1

A woman in the photograph

This is a fictional book but covers many major events in the feminist movement - well worth reading.

I know they have a younger audience but I love the Old Kingdom books starting with Sabriel by Garth Nix

Fiction, how about Val McDermid? A feminist lesbian who writes great strong women. Especially the Lyndsey Gordon series.

Sandi Toksvig - Violet Grey

A fictional account of a woman who disguises herself as a man to get ahead in Victorian England.

I read "Things a Bright Girl Can do" a couple of years ago, which is set in the suffragette movement in the early 20th century. It's quite mainstream, so you may already be aware of it!

Do you like YA fiction? There is a book by Muhammad Khan (a female writer, despite the name) called "I am Thunder" which has a female protagonist and is pretty good.

actually to correct the above- Muhammad Khan is a male, but the book is still good! (seems I was misinformed by previous googling of the name...)

How about Bodies of Light and Signs for Lost Children by Sarah Moss?
“Sisters Ally and May Moberley grow up in Victorian Manchester, surrounded by their father's decadent paintings and dominated by their austere, evangelical mother. While May poses for the artists in her father's circle, Ally devotes herself to her mother's ambitions, working hard to join the first generation of female doctors”

“In this companion novel to Bodies of Light, Ally's husband Tom leaves, only weeks into their marriage, to build lighthouses in Japan. Ally, one of Britain's first female doctors, takes work at an asylum in Truro”

How about The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams? The main female character contributes to the first Oxford English Dictionary.

Non-fiction:
A Woman of No Importance
Difficult Women
Hidden Figures

Fiction (not really feminist but female protagonists)
The Alice network
Americanah
The Great Alone
The Girl with the Louding Voice

Laura Purcell
Sarah Hall.

I've just started reading Unborn by Rachel McLean.

It's a dystopian thriller

America, 2026.
Feminism has been defeated. Equality is a memory. And abortion has been criminalized.

Three women find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Kate, carrying the child of a sexual predator.
Grace, whose baby will be born with a fatal deformity.
And Cindee: abused, abandoned and pregnant.

Can these three very different women come together to fight an oppressive system and win their freedom?

Find out by reading Unborn, a chilling dystopia combined with a gripping legal thriller.

It's ok so far, a bit topical imo with the way it feels like men are more important than women at the moment.

Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall is good and thought provoking.

Wyrd Sisters and Monstrous Regiment, both by Terry Pratchett.
The Millstone, but Margaret Drabble.

Winter Dark is a James Bond style thriller with an excellent female protagonist- really recommend it

Fiction - would highly recommended;
The Eyre Affair
The Psychology of Time Travel
The Thief on the Winged Horse
Circe

The Power - Naomi Alderman, fiction

Women & Power: A Manifesto - Mary Beard, non-fiction

The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood, fiction

We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, non-fiction short read

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. Classic memoir that covers her fight with her father to be educated, the impact of the first world war on the career opportunities for middle class girls and her life post war when she returned to Oxford and became a writer and political activist. DON'T watch the dreadful film that turns her life into a romance.

Esther's Notebooks by Riad Sattouf. A graphic novel based on the weekly conversations between the author and his friend's 10 year old daughter.

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga. Novel describing a black girl's exposure to education in colonial Rhodesia.

Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time.

All fiction, and a bit of a mix...

"Out" by Natsuo Kirino - japanese book. The 3 or 4 main characters are women. Is a murder / thriller.
"The Power" - Naomi Alderman. Women of the world gain a power to make men fear them. Is interesting how the author explores how this might alter the power dynamics society.
"Empress Orchid", and a few others by Anchee Min - fiction based on the story of China's last Empress.
"Charlotte Gray" - Sebastian Faulks - story about a female spy in ww2.
And I have "Vox", and ,"Q" on my to be read pile!

And "My Sister the Serial Killer" is quite a good modern read. Nigerian sisters- and about the relationships between the sisters.

Oh definitely the Throne of glass series by Sarah J Mass the female leads, plot and character development are just... ✨Chefs kiss✨

Never read a series with as much 'girl power' They're amazing.

@PersonIrresponsible

I have just bought your book, have started reading it and you will be pleased to hear it will be a book club book!

@Deathraystare

Oh my! I don't know what to say beyond thank you!

(Although, judging you solely by your username, I sincerely hope it meets your approval...or my next book will chronicle life inside a hidden bunker 😝)