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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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9 Extraordinary Biographies About Strong Women

Dig into the histories of women who shaped the world.

Valley of the Dolls: 50 Years Later

For its 50th anniversary, Jacqueline Susann's misunderstood novel gets a re-read.

You Do You: 5 Novels for Self-Discovery

These books are sure to set you on your way to "shelf" awareness.

The Re-Read: Little Women

Were we too young to appreciate Alcott's classic novel?

Girl Squad: Fierce Females Throughout History

If girl squads were a thing in the past, these gals would put Taylor and her supermodels to shame.

5 Early Female Irish Writers

Ireland was home to some of the most forward-thinking female writers.

Gloria Steinem on Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower

A celebration of Octavia Butler's groundbreaking science-fiction novel.

Tainted Love: 4 Macabre Literary Love Stories

Love means never having to say you're sorry for exhuming your dead wife's corpse.

Valentine’s Day Antidote: Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Fight reductive HEA (Happily Ever After) with Charlotte Brontë's last, best, novel.

Ayn Rand: Behind the Controversy

Is the controversial work of Ayn Rand worth revisiting? You decide.

Jane Austen’s 12 Most Delightful Insults

We love your sass, Jane. Don't ever change!

Literary Pilgrimage: Virginia Woolf’s England

Take a tour of England through the life and work of Virginia Woolf.

In Defense: Elizabeth Gilbert

Gilbert haters cite Eat, Pray, Love as proof of her failings, and in the process neglect her fantastic, near-perfect novel.

Live Your Own Life: 10 Inspiring Facts About Margaret Mitchell

The Gone with the Wind author was a woman ahead of her time.

Gloria Steinem on Domestic Violence and Next Time, She’ll Be Dead

Ann Jones's revolutionary work offers powerful insight into domestic violence.

Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple: Feminist Icon

In "Miss Marple vs. The Mansplainers," Alice Bolin salutes Agatha Christie's feminist detective hero.

The Genius of Kate Atkinson

With Life After Life, the English writer takes the reincarnation story to new heights.

Literature’s Sexual Rebels

Erica Jong shocked readers with her novel about women's sexuality in the 1970s, and she tells us why she's ready to do it again.

This Is Susan Griffin, Hear Her Roar

The pioneering ecofeminist and Woman and Nature author discusses her book and today's discriminatory climate.