March is Women’s History Month: a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women from all walks of life, and from the past, present, and future. And what better time to read some amazing fictional titles featuring strong, brave women from around the world?
Check out some of these amazing titles by and about women for Women’s History Month.
Vaishnavi Patel’s book retells the story of Kaikeyi, the queen (and stepmother of Rama) from the Ramayana. In the epic poem, Kaikeyi was the stepmother who forced her stepson Rama into exile for fourteen years so her own son could take the throne of Ayodhya. But in Patel’s book, Kaikeyi is a woman who has had to deal with the many unlucky hands that life has dealt her; the disappearance of her mother when she was a child, and being forced into a politically desired marriage. Kaikeyi finds a way to regain some control over her life as queen, use her role to improve the lot of women in the kingdom, and prepare to face the gods in a battle over destinies and chosen paths.
It’s 1994, and Northern Ireland is working toward an end to the Troubles: the decades-long conflict between Catholics and Protestants. For Maeve Murray, her most pressing concern is that she pass her A-levels so she can go study journalism in London and get out of her small town. In the meantime, as she’s waiting for her exam results, she and her two best friends get summer jobs at a shirt factory. It’s not the easiest job, having to iron hundreds of shirts, fend off a Lothario boss, and be on the alert for dueling paramilitary attacks. But things get worse as the twelfth of July–the start of “marching season” for Protestants–gets closer. Maeve realizes that something is very wrong inside the factory, and that she has to do something–and it may just be the escape that she’s looking for.
Astrid Bricard was hailed as one of the up-and-coming fashion designers. The daughter of noted model/designer Mizza Bricard, Astrid was determined to step out from her mother’s shadow and make a name for herself. And she did, with a daring silver dress that was captured in a famous photo. But Astrid’s career was cut short when she mysteriously disappeared. Years later, Astrid’s now-grown daughter Blythe is dealing with upheaval in her life when the subject of her mother’s disappearance is brought up once again, and she vows to find out once and for all what really happened to Astrid.
In the 1950s, Trần Diệu Lan is forced to flee her family’s farm and resettle in Hanoi with her children as the Communist government begins its ascendancy in the north of Vietnam. Twenty years later, Diệu Lan is the guardian to her granddaughter Trần Hương, whose parents and uncles have gone to war and not returned. The two of them are forced to leave Hanoi and flee to the countryside amid heavy bombing raids. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai paints a picture of the bonds of family and homeland, and how a war can inflict terrible wounds both on a family and on a country.
The book follows the life of Maria Carolina Charlotte: tenth daughter of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and the beloved sister of Maria Antonia: the future Queen Marie Antoinette.
A family tragedy and unfortunate circumstances find Charlotte married off to the dissolute King Ferdinand of Naples. Amid the unhappy marriage and dangerous court politics, Charlotte makes the decision to try to reign in her own right, with the aid of English military official John Acton. And when Marie Antoinette is arrested along with the rest of the French royal family, Charlotte makes a bid to spare her sister from execution, but the ensuing events will mark the eventual downfall of two royal dynasties.
The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his twenty-year voyage from Troy back to Ithaca, but during those twenty years, what happened to Penelope and the women of Ithaca who awaited his return? With Odysseus and most of Ithaca’s men away at war, it falls to Penelope and the other women to run the kingdom and keep it safe: a task that is anything but easy. Over the course of twenty years, Penelope becomes a mother to a son, Telemachus, works to drive out a band of pirates, keeps a band of unwanted suitors at bay, and works to keep Ithaca from tumbling from a precarious peace into brutal war.
Erin Roll is a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader. Her favorite genres to read are mystery, science fiction, and fantasy, and her TBR pile is likely to be visible on Google Maps. Before becoming an editor, Erin worked as a journalist and photographer, and she has won far too many awards from the New Jersey Press Association. Erin lives at the top floor of a haunted house in Montclair, NJ. She enjoys reading (of course), writing, hiking, kayaking, music, and video games.