This week, I wanted to share some of my favorite historical fiction and non-fiction books about badass women or with a powerful woman protagonist. Given my propensity to read on a wide swath of history, you’ll see books spanning the gamut of ancient to modern.
Women’s History Month on Substack has been epic. From Holly A Brown’s insightful posts on her Medieval Musings and Society of History Writers communities, authorAmy McElroy sharing insightful and valuable interviews, and Mariella Hunt ☕️ writing on all things literary to my friend Jonathan Crain posting some of his favorite books and author interviews and Substack newcomers Helene Harrison (writing on Tudor history), Helen Castor (medieval history extraordinaire), Leigh Wakefield (one of the most talented historians I’ve ever virtually met), and Maddy Reads Herstory (sharing historical fiction book reviews), it’s been an exciting time!
(One might think I’m sucking up to some of the most talented historians and authors I’ve met/read, but hey, I’m all about sharing credit and inspiration where such things are due!)
This week, I wanted to share some of my favorite historical fiction and non-fiction books about badass women or with a powerful woman protagonist. Given my propensity to read on a wide swath of history, you’ll see books spanning the gamut of ancient to modern. All books have been reviewed by me here on Substack so I’ve included those to peruse at your leisure.
Yvonne Korshak’s Pericles and Aspasia relates a reimagining of the great Greek statesman Pericles and his great love Aspasia. Intelligent and educated Aspasia graces Athens as a hetaira, or courtesan, and seeks a stable life at a time where patriarchy dominated and women could not vote or hold jobs. Pericles struggles to balance the needs of the Athenian democracy with his own ambitions. Together, the pair ushers in Athens’ Golden Age, where art, architecture, and democracy flourish. It’s assuredly a love story, but it’s also an immersion into ancient Greece at its very halcyonic best.
Medieval sources offer significantly less written material on Anglo-Saxon women than men, but they remain surprisingly verbose (by medieval standards) on Æthelflæd, the daughter of King Alfred the Great and the ruler of the Mercians. Tim Clarkson’s biography on Æthelflæd weaves together the sparsely verifiable facts about her life into an engaging and precise account of the political history of Anglo-Saxon England between c. 500 and 1000 C.E. Even more so, he offers a balanced but positive take on the noblewoman who exercised power in her own right in the Viking Age.
Keira Morgan’s The Importance of Wives delivers a powerful story about Anne of Brittany, the fifteenth-century noblewoman and duchess who later became Queen of France. Immensely detailed and engaging, the novel explores the complex nature of French medieval politics and those who chose to stand against French annexation. The Importance of Wives is a well-written, beautifully-constructed novel about a remarkably tenacious and intelligent medieval woman trying to safeguard her birthright amidst a system designed to undermine and remove her authority and agency.
In her latest book Mary Tudor: Queen of France, author Amy McElroy pens a meticulous and vibrant history of the youngest Tudor sibling, the lively and lovely Mary, Queen of France and later Duchess of Suffolk. Mary was a multifaceted and complex woman who deserves the telling of her story in a compassionate and authentic manner, and Amy McElroy has done just that. From her birth to her marriage to Charles Brandon, readers will retread some familiar ground while also learning something new in this excellent biography.
The last book in this list is from someone I know quite well: Margaret Kasimatis, Professor Emeritus of Psychology from Carroll University in Wisconsin. Not Pink follows the story of Mary Therese Panos, a troubled young woman caught between her Greek patriarchal upbringing and the roaring counterculture of the '60s. Margaret’s expertise in psychology offers readers unparalleled insight into the mind and inner workings of this Mae, both the good and the bad. This story sticks with you long after you read it, and I can’t recommend it enough.
I hope you’ve enjoyed Women’s History Month as well! What are some of your favorite books about women or by women? I’m always looking to add more books to my TBR pile!
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Featured image: National Women's Party demonstration in front of the White House in 1918. The banner protests Wilson's failure to support women's suffrage. (Canva.com/The Everett Collection)
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