If you love stories that explore gender roles, break down stereotypes, and celebrate female empowerment, then we’ve got some great reads for you. From literary fiction to fantasy, here are our seven favorite feminist fiction picks that make the perfect addition to your bookshelf.
When Women Were Dragons
About the Book
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
Genre: Fantasy, Literary Fiction
Book Review
This book tells the story of a re-imagined feminist movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, where the women turn into actual physical dragons. Part metaphor, part fantasy, this story switches back and forth between a girl, Alex, who lives through the Mass Dragoning and researchers studying the issue.
Alex lives with her sick but growing stronger mother, her mostly absent father and her beloved aunt who visits. But there’s a call on the wind that Alex is too young to hear that will lead to the Mass Dragoning of 1955. Her aunt turns into a dragon, eats her ne’er-do-well uncle and flees to the sky. Her mother resists the urge through sheer willpower and a series of complicated knots that she uses to tie her to life and Alex, who she cannot bear to leave behind. Her mother brings home her cousin Beatrice, tells her she is her sister now, and there’s no more discussion about it. Alex’s life gets harder and more tragic as the years go on. But mysterious pamphlets and letters left behind by her aunt can lead Alex to the truth, if she can bear to face it.
Alex pulls on the reader’s heartstrings even as she frustrates with her inability to see and comprehend truths that are right in front of her face. Her fierce love for Beatrice is her number one priority in life, and she is determined that no matter what happens, they will always have each other. As someone who doesn’t feel the call, Alex struggles to understand why women became dragons, but she eventually does face the unpleasant truths at the center of her world.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dulcinea
About the Book
Dulcinea by Ana Veciana-Suarez
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Book Review
A bittersweet book about what happens when love and duty collide.
This historical fiction novel is a feminist retelling of Don Quixote from the point of view of Dulcinea, Quixote’s love interest who never speaks for herself in the original book.
Told in a dual timeline, this book follows Dulcinea as a young girl who falls head over heels for Miguel, connecting over a mutual love of art. But Dulcinea marries another due to pressure from her family. Fated to never be together, Dulcinea and Miguel steal moments that add up to a lifetime of love and regret. Much later in life, Dulcinea embarks on a secret journey to attempt to reconcile with Miguel on his deathbed.
Dulcinea is an interesting yet flawed character. She’s headstrong, often selfish, and torn between two worlds. Despite the prison of her family’s expectations, she carves out for herself a life she enjoys, even if it moves pushing aside a love for the ages.
Thank you to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Grace Year
About the Book
The Grace Year
Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Dystopian
Book Review
The Grace Year will haunt you. It caught hold of my soul in a way I can’t quite put into words.
It’s a tale of brutality reminiscent of Animal Farm, but there’s so many more layers to it. Handmaid’s Tale comes to mind as well. It’s also the story of a love that conquers all and brings hope. Impossible to get out of your head, I will be thinking about this one for a long time.
Hester
About the Book
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
Book Review
I absolutely loved this book! It brought to life the epic story arcs of classic tales, but with a modern feel.
I imagine if Hester Prynne had been narrating the Scarlet Letter, she would have told a very different tale. This retelling of the classic gives Hester her voice and agency back.
Hester’s a skilled seamstress with a secret: she can see colors when people speak. After her older husband loses their house and business in a bad business deal, they travel to America for a fresh start. They are befriended on board by the ship captain, who hires her husband for his next voyage. Her husband pays her rent for a year on the cottage, then promptly leaves her all alone in a new country. Hester soon meets the mysterious young Nathaniel Hawthorne, who enchants her. As her woes pile up, their friendship provides a welcome escape, with Hester even entrusting him with some of her deepest secrets.
This book brought a gothic touch to New England, where the witch trials a few generations past still loom over the current inhabitants. Each of the founding families had a side, with none more prevalent than the Hawthornes, whose ancestor served as chief prosecutor. Anyone who is too skilled at something still runs the danger of being accused of witchcraft instead of celebrated for their talents, including Hester with her embroidery.
Hester’s an enchanting heroine, both vulnerable and fierce as she carves a space in a man’s world for herself and her future baby. Hester’s life was wrecked by the man who was supposed to make it secure, her husband, but she pulls herself up with her wits and skill. She loves, suffers rejections and failures, and finds a way to triumph through learning to trust again.
This is a book I will read again and again.
Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Fair Rosaline
About the Book
Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons
Genre: Historical fiction, literary fiction
Book Review
A sharply seductive, fresh retelling of Romeo and Juliet.
The reader is swept off their feet alongside Rosaline when she meets handsome, broad-shouldered Romeo Montague at a party. Rosaline, enjoying her last few days of freedom before entering a nunnery, is eager for anything that could help her escape her boring fate. Her chemistry with Romeo is electrifying, he gives her sweet tokens and knows just the right words to say. When Rosaline starts to notice red flags, it’s worth ignoring for another hour spent in Romeo’s arms. But when Romeo turns his sights to her thirteen-year-old cousin Juliet, Rosaline is furious.
This retelling felt very fresh due to the new point of view. It’s fun to see Rosaline given a voice in the story. When Rosaline turns from lovesick to sick of love, she becomes a force to be reckoned with. I love how all the original characters are there – Tybalt, Nurse, Juliet – but their personalities leap off the page in a way they never could in the original Shakespeare. The descriptions of the decadent parties, lush gardens and romantic balconies will transport the reader to another time.
After reading this feminist retelling of Romeo and Juliet, you’ll never see the characters the same way again.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Ariadne
About the Book
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Genre: Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Folklore
Book Review
Women always pay the price for the hubris of men and gods.
This is a lesson that Ariadne learns over and over again. A princess of Crete, Ariadne is tempted to betray her father and her brother, the Minotaur, by the handsome Theseus. But it doesn’t all work out quite how Ariadne expected.
This is a fiercely feminist retelling of Greek mythology, even as the female characters seem to fare the worst at the hands of fate. Saint takes on some deep topics: the dangers of childbirth, the joys and troubles of marriage, and ways to deal with grief and pain. Each women makes choices that lead to finding their joys and identity in different places in a man’s world. I don’t think it’s an accident that the solely good male character was raised with only women around.
This is well worth a read.
Elsewhere
About the Book
Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin
Genre: Fantasy, Literary Fiction
Book Review
What does it mean to be a mother? This is the question at the core of Alexis Schaiken’s new novel. This is written in a very different genre than Saint X, showcasing Schaiken’s range. Personally, I liked this one even better!
“The clouds held her, as they held all our gone mothers, and at night when we opened our shutters and invited the clouds in, they would enter us: memories we could not tough, a feeling we could not name.”
This speculative novel is part fable, part philosophical fantasy. It requires the reader to set aside their judgements and follow the characters into their unique world.
Vera lives in an isolated town with a peculiar affliction: mothers regularly disappear, leaving all their belongings behind. No one knows why, so they simply accept it and carry on with their traditions and rituals. For the residents of this town, their home is the only thing that exists, and all other places are referred to as “Elsewhere.” In fact, they don’t want to know anything about Elsewhere.
Vera’s own mother disappears, and Vera never plans to marry and have a family. But then she meets Peter, and they fall in love. When Vera’s daughter is born, she’s unsettled, because now she could disappear, but she also celebrates becoming more fully herself.
But the sense of danger looms. When a mother disappears, the town gathers and burns all photos of her and all her belongings and analyzes all of her past interactions for the signs that she was flawed in some way, that her disappearance was to be expected. Maybe she loved her children too much or too little. This book tackles the question of how a mother’s love is perceived and critiqued by others.
“Impossible to predict, what motherhood would bring out of a woman, what it would show her about herself, the end to which it would carry her.”
When Vera begins to feel herself disappear, she has to decide: will she let it happen or do something about it?
This is a book that will leave you thinking about it for a long time.
Thank you to NetGalley for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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