Unfaithful women. Women with unwanted pregnancies. Murderous women. Healing women. These are facets of womanhood that are rarely portrayed in literature, as women are often confined to the roles of the helpless victim, the nurturing mother, the source of support for the (usually male) protagonist, the shallow femme fatale, a sex object. But while it’s true that in most classic and contemporary literature female characters are not granted much depth or agency, I have compiled a list here of novels that were written by women where that trope could not be more obsolete. The female characters in these novels are confusing, unreliable, troubled, vulnerable, but most of all, real, raw, and complex. Their actions are often frightening or strange, but their emotional depth, experiences with misogyny, and relationship to girlhood are ones that I believe are important and relatable for every female reader.
- Gone Girl by gillian flynn
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This book portrays the demise of a marriage from the perspective of both the husband and the wife, both deeply unreliable narrators and incredibly troubled individuals. But the dark humor and scarily relatable anger of the wife, Amy Dunne, is what really makes this book so gripping. This novel delves into the nuances of misogyny in the media and relationships in a way that is eerily incisive; besides that, the twists and turns will keep you up for days.
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
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This book heartbreakingly describes the loss of self that many women experience when they become mothers; it is especially gut-wrenching because this book was written in the late 1800s. Many modern moms do still struggle with the ways in which society relegates them, but mothers before the advent of feminist movements truly had no avenues for liberation or self-determination at all. This story is ethically ambiguous and deeply sad, but it is still an incredibly important read for all women who are mothers, want to be mothers, or want to better understand their own mothers.
- Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
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This novel is set in the near future, in a time when fertility has plummeted and the world is suffering from strange and troubling biological abnormalities. The story revolves around a young Ojibwe woman named Cedar, a woman with a fractured sense of identity and belonging, as she navigates her miraculous (yet unwanted) pregnancy. A book about female subjugation, Indigenous heritage, family, and dystopia, it is a beautiful and profound story that I would highly recommend to all young women.
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
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Another haunting crime novel by Gillian Flynn, this book focuses on female mental health in the wake of tragedy. The protagonist, a sharp and bitter young woman, can at times be unlikeable — but this quality makes her almost more relatable to the reader, as every person on earth has at times been selfish, lazy, or hurtful. Dark Places is a thrilling and mournful story that delves into several women’s psyches, all radically different and all powerfully complex.
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
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This classic book is sometimes painfully sad, sometimes eerie, sometimes strange — but always profound. Beloved is set roughly a decade after the end of slavery in America and revolves around a newly free Black family as they struggle to come to terms with their unthinkable trauma and haunting past. This book has almost all female characters, women who love each other so much that they hurt each other, women who are so real they almost jump off the pages, even as the book veers into the realms of fantasy and magic. Beloved is simply stunning.
Original photo by sarah dwyer - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
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This novel is perhaps a landmark American feminist tome, a dark and provocative tale of the near future in which poor or “trashy” women must bear the children of the rich and powerful. It is a story with themes that are deeply prevalent in modern society, such as bodily autonomy, intersectionality, religious freedom, and male privilege, it is a warning shrouded in gorgeous prose. In the introduction, Atwood said that she never wrote about anything in this novel that hasn’t already happened in the world; this book thus serves as a reminder to all women that we must make sure the horrors portrayed in the book never, ever happen again.
Original photo by Amanda Maurer - Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
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Walk Two Moons was one of my all-time favorite books as a young girl, but its plot, characterization, and themes are so timeless that it remains one of my favorite novels to this day. It revolves around an adolescent Indigenous girl named Salamanca as she journeys to find her mother, who went on a trip to find herself a few months back and has not returned. This book is heartbreaking and funny in almost equal measures, and its exploration of difficult, tangled women and girls is fascinating and so meaningful.
- Sharp Places by Gillian Flynn
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Yet another Gillian Flynn novel on this list — but for good reason. A story of the search to find the brutal killer of two little girls, Sharp Places explores the ways in which women hurt each other and themselves (both physically and emotionally), the ways in which women weaponize their victimhood, and the ways in which women heal. Flynn’s debut novel is chilling, intimate, gorgeously written, and beautifully convoluted.
These novels are powerful beyond words when it comes to meaningful female representation, as they all revolve entirely around realistic and fascinating women. In literature, male characters are given permission to be amoral, antiheroes, tormented, and haunted — as well as strong, humorous, and gleeful. The female authors of these books give that same permission to their female characters, showcasing the emotional diversity and depth that women have always possessed.
These books are truly some of my favorites of all time, and I hope you enjoy them just as much as I always have!
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