THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I have no idea how this has happened, but today I was looking through my library (at LEAST 100+ books!!!) And realised that not a single one has a female protagonist. I think it's because a lot of the books are classical literature, and mostly by male authors, but still absolutely mind boggling. I need recommendations ASAP. Give me all you got because I got nothin'
by a_british_man
32 Comments
best served cold
drive your plow over the bones of the dead
we shall sing a song into the deep
bird box
a thousand splendid suns
To kill a mockingbird, The Handmaids Tale
Never read Jane Austen? Pride and Prejudice is a good one!
What genre are you looking for?
Fantasy? *Sheepfarmer’s Daughter* – Elizabeth Moon (The Deed of Paksenarrion, book 1)
Satire? *The Wee Free Men* – Sir Terry Pratchett (Discworld series)
Sci-Fi? *On Basilisk Station* – David Weber (Honourverse series)
Dystopia? *The Handmaid’s Tale* – Margaret Atwood
Classic? *Anne of Green Gables* – Lucy Maud Montgomery
Criers War by Nina Varela, her debut duology, so good. Fantasy + robots.
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo, A dark thriller about an English professor who is also a serial killer at her college.
Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo, Researcher dives into the mind of a wild wolf fueling her obsession to be a part of the pack.
The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. It’s cosmic horror/sci fi with apocalyptic stakes and a sprinkling of gruesome body horror. Elements of time travel and multiverse. But it’s all written in the familiar formula of a murder detective thriller. Absolutely brilliant female MC!
Also in the cosmic horror/ weird sci fi is Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer and Arrival by Ted Chiang, both of which have great movie adaptations that pale in comparison to the magnificent books.
Alanna by Tamora Pierce
Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke
Dragondrums by Anne McCaffrey
The Girl with Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
I love the poisonwood Bible by Barbara kingsolver. 4 female protagonists. Written from multiple perspectives.
Chain Gang Allstars and Still Alice are two of my fave reads this year with female protagonists
Broken Earth Trilogy
The Cassandra Neary series by Elizabeth Hand.
19th Century classics written by men with a female protagonist:
* Thomas Hardy: Far from the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d’Urbervilles,
* Charles Dickens: Bleak House (it’s an ensemble cast, but Ester is the most realized/humanized POV character)
* Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
* Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass
* Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
* Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary
* R.D. Blackmore: Lorna Doone
The Haunting of Hill House or We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Little Women, Midnight Library, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
I loved We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix. It’s rare to see a middle aged woman who isn’t defined by being a mother or grandmother or romantic relationships.
Jane Eyre
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Memoirs of a Geisha
And I second Pride and Prejudice and The Handmaid’s Tale
You Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
The Seventh Bride by Ursula Vernon
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree
Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good by Helene Tursten
An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser
Circe by Madeline Miller
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Also, a lot of the books by Lois Duncan have female protagonists
Memoirs of a Geisha. Historical Fiction
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Since you like classics, check out Toni Morison’s work.
Also, Parable of the Sower. Modern classic.
Jane Eyre
Anything by Jane Austen, Persuasion is my favorite
The Scarlet Letter
Little Dorrit
Anything by Amy Tan, The 100 Secret Senses is my favorite
The Blind Assassin
Little Women
Circe
The Red Tent
The blind assassin will blow your mind
The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun – Sébastien Laprisot
Mistborn
I just gave the following answer for someone looking for top notch literary fiction. They just all happen to have female MCs *and* female authors…
These are all wonderful books that are more about language and storytelling than being plot driven. They are my few 5-star books that I’ve read in the last 18 months or so.
*I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman* – sort of dystopian, but not really. You get dropped right in the middle of things with no explanation, but then find out the group of 40 women together in a cell have no idea what is happening either. The story centers on the youngest who was a small child when all this happened and has no recall of what life outside their cell is like.
*Poor Dear by Claire Oshetsky* – a young girl commits a heinous act and has spent her life dealing with it. Pushing her along is a fantasy/magical realism character called Poor Dear.
*Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement* – mind blowing book about 4 girls growing up in a drug running town in Mexico and what they have to endure to live there. One of the most beautiful stories of friendship I’ve ever read. The MC/narrato Ladydi does get out of the town but then more things happen. This can get quite harrowing but is so beautiful. There is also a move from it that is very different storywise (Ladydi isn’t even in the movie) but 100% feels like the book and is an excellent movie. Reading the book first won’t ruin the movie or vice-versa.
*The Buddha In the Attic by Julie Otsuka* – I fund myself rereading passages as I went along from all these books, but this one the most. The narrator is a collective voice and the prose are highly repetitious so it read like a beautiful poem to me. It takes a little bit to get into the rhythm of the book and apparently not everyone is able to. This is about Japanese mail order brides at the turn of the 20th century and it goes to the beginning of the Japanese internment camps.
*Agatha of LIttle Neon by Claire Luchette* – total gem! Kind of a coming-of-age story about a young nun. The parish she and 3 of her fellow sisters live/work in runs out of money and they are sent to run a halfway house in Woonsocket, RI. There is some fish out of water, a surprising amount of (appropriate) humor, some very difficult moments but throughout you are always pulling for Agatha.
Game of Thrones (lots of strong women),
Lola,
Girl on the Train,
Into the Water,
Time’s a Thief,
Eleanor Oliphant,
Saints for All Occasions,
The After Party,
Standard Deviation (comedy) ❤️❤️
Go back in time to the last ice age in prehistoric Europe in **The Clan of the Cave Bear** by Jean Auel. Great cast of characters and a female protagonist.
ANNNNNAAA KARENINNNAAA????
Dude, dude.
Middlemarch, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and anything by Ottessa Moshfegh.
You might enjoy Moll Flanders or Pamela. If you’re looking for something a bit more modern, Emma Donoghue’s *The Pull of the Stars* is one of the better books I’ve read. Hope this helps.
Pachinko?
The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
The Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett