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Best Women Author Recommendations

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

—Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, 1818

Historically, women (and people of color) have been sorely underrepresented on many reading lists. To help change that, we're highlighting women authors who more than deserve your attention. 

Discover classic women authors who flew under the radar with male pen names, and re-discover those who broke the mold and dominated their genres (hello, Agatha Christie!) or invented new ones (see: the history of Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein). 

You can also browse books by Black women, by early Irish female writers, or even books by royal women. For more modern and global women’s fiction, we suggest books that pass the Bechdel test, books by Elena Ferrante, and even books by women crime writers. Regardless of what you’re looking for,  all of the recommendations below will add some much-needed feminine perspective to your reading list.

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Jane Austen’s Unfinished Novel Sanditon is Being Adapted for PBS

Acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies, who also wrote the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries, will be adapting the novel for the small screen.

Queen of Crime: Margery Allingham's Mystery Novels Still Hook Us Today

Best known for her Albert Campion series, Margery Allingham was a contemporary of Agatha Christie – and is well worth investigating.

How Mary Roberts Rinehart Got Her Start—and Invented a New Kind of Mystery

The so-called "American Agatha Christie" revolutionized the mystery genre with her 1908 novel, The Circular Staircase.

The Perfect Mother Author Aimee Molloy on Blending Genres, Motherhood and Kerry Washington

BookTrib and Aimee Molloy discuss the psychological thrills, feminist message, and upcoming adaptation of her hit novel.

Looking Back: Joyce Maynard on Her Career-Launching Essay and Relationship With J.D. Salinger

Joyce Maynard's 1972 essay captured life in 1960s America—and the attention of one of the world's most enigmatic icons.

Spanning Genres: The Lasting Influence of Lois Lowry and Her Work

The author explored both light and heavy subject matter—covering everything from contemporary adolescence to dystopian worlds and the Holocaust.

An Irish Immigrant Gets a Second Chance in Taylor Caldwell's Captains and the Kings

While en route to Pennsylvania, a penniless teenager meets the man who will change his life forever.