One of the key missions of International Women’s Day (8 March) is elevating the visibility of women creatives.
With this in mind, here’s your rundown of seven classic and recent books by female authors celebrating female empowerment, the push for equality, and the women at the heart of forging change.
1. The Saga of Gösta Berling by Selma Lagerlöf
Selma Lagerlöf played her part in elevating the visibility of female authors when, in 1909, she became the first woman to win the Nobel prize for literature.
The Saga of Gösta Berling was Lagerlöf’s debut novel. Inspired by the Swedish folk tales of her childhood, this episodic saga takes elements of romanticism and magical realism to create an epic of Swedish country life.
The book was made into a 1924 silent film starring Greta Garbo.
Lagerlöf’s historic win blazed a trail for the likes of Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, and the 2022 winner Annie Ernaux. And yet inequality abounds. Of the 119 Nobel prizes in literature awarded to date, just 17 (a mere 14%) have gone to female authors.
2. The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
One of the 17 women to have won a Nobel prize for literature, Svetlana Alexievich used her first book to tell the stories of the Soviet women who fought in the second world war but were subsequently omitted from history.
Years of research and interviews uncovered harrowing and inspiring stories from the nurses, pilots, and captains on the frontline.
Originally completed in 1983, Alexievich was prevented from publishing the work as it contradicted the state-sanctioned version of the war.
It was released in a heavily edited form in 1985.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This classic tale of racism and injustice in 1930s Alabama won the Pulitzer prize on its release and has been widely read ever since.
The story follows six-year-old Scout, the daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch. Played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film adaptation, Finch’s defence of a wrongly accused black man forms the moral heart of the story.
More than half a century later, a follow-up, Go Set a Watchman was published.
4. Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody
In 1984, Betty Mahmoody’s Iranian husband suggested that they travel from America to Iran for a visit. They took with them their four-year-old daughter Mahtob.
Once in Iran, the living conditions and politics of the region leave Mahmoody desperate to leave.
Her desire grows only stronger when her increasingly violent husband makes her and her daughter prisoners. And while plans to escape are forthcoming, they all involve leaving her beloved daughter Mahtob behind.
The book is a multi-million copy international bestseller and was made into a 1991 film starring Sally Field and Alfred Molina.
5. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Once hailed by the Washington Post’s Book World as “the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe” (a huge influence on her work), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has fashioned her own literacy legacy. She found fame with Half of a Yellow Sun, her second novel.
Winner of the 2007 Orange prize for fiction, the novel is set in 1960s Nigeria. It tells the interconnecting stories of lives affected by the Biafran War.
If you enjoy Half of a Yellow Sun, you might also try 2013’s Americanah, which explores similar themes but in today’s globalised world.
6. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Interpreter of Maladies won the 2000 Pulitzer prize for fiction. The book was Lahiri’s debut short-story collection.
Through nine stories built around the lives and experiences of Indian immigrants living in America, Lahiri fashions something universal.
From a Boston apartment block to a temple on India’s east coast, Lahiri’s Indian-American characters and their relationships cover themes of communication, community, and belonging.
7. The Five: The Untold Lives of The Women Killed by Jack The Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
135 years since a string of brutal killings rocked Victorian London, the story of Jack the Ripper is well known. Despite the identity of the murderer remaining a mystery, films, television series and graphic novels have all looked to tell the killer’s story.
The stories of his five victims, however, have gone largely untold.
It is this injustice that Rubenhold set out to remedy in her book The Five: The Untold Lives of The Women Killed by Jack The Ripper.
Across five parts – one dedicated to each victim – Rubenhold tells the story of Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane. From Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden, and Wales we follow each of the women to tragic deaths in the East End of London’s Whitechapel district.
Through meticulous research and a powerful narrative taking aim at the misogyny surrounding the story of the Ripper and its retelling down the centuries, Rubenhold gives the five women back their stories.
