Since I was a girl, I’ve had an enduring sense that women must work harder, be cleverer, think more creatively than men, both at work and sometimes at home. So I love a woman who stands up for herself, who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. At one time, when the series Spooks was popular on TV, I wanted to be Ros, the operator who, when a dodgy guy followed her, hid around a corner. She flattened him with some nifty moves, stole his car keys and said: “Never follow me again.” Brilliant! I hope you enjoy all the feisty females on my book list.
This book was recommended by a creative writing teacher as a perfect example of how a plot should develop – the three-act structure, the perfect arc of the story, the pace, with rising and falling tension and edge-of-the-cliff plot points.
But I love it because of the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, surely one of the most endearing heroines in literature. It’s a classic story of a character overcoming all the odds, and while it’s widely perceived as a dystopian novel for young adults, I found it much more than that.
I was gripped by Katniss and her challenges – all of which she finds a way to overcome – as well as the enormous themes of poverty, oppression, war, and survival. She’s young but steely, resourceful, clever, and feisty.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature. The Hunger Games is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever...
This is a book of many parts. It’s essentially a coming-of-age murder mystery, but there’s so much more to enjoy in this book – not least the wonderful filmic descriptions of the setting.
The lead character is a young girl named Kya who grows up alone in the marshes of North Carolina when her family deserts her. For me, she’s the classic clever, feisty girl who has no choice but to survive on her wits.
She learns to feed herself and finds ways to survive on her own – she’s a problem-solver, a lover of nature, a free spirit – and when the locals decide she’s bad news, she gets herself out of an accusation of murder. What a girl!
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For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be…
Selected by Deesha Philyaw as winner of the AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction, Lake Song is set in the fictional town of Kinder Falls in New York’s Finger Lakes region. This novel in stories spans decades to plumb the complexities, violence, and compassion of small-town life as the…
I couldn’t do a list of books under this title without including the epitome of feistiness, Lisbeth Salander.
Anyone who has ever felt put down by men can’t help but admire her style. She refuses to conform, she looks and acts like the maverick she is, and however powerful you are, you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of her. She’s a world-class computer hacker with attitude, and when you discover what has happened to her, you can’t help admiring her courage.
In this book, the first in the Millennium trilogy, Lisbeth joins financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist when he’s hired to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. When the pair uncover a link to a number of grotesque murders they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly-knit but dysfunctional family.
He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history.
The protagonist of this beautifully written, heart-rending book is the wonderfully-named Tequila Leila, a sex worker from Istanbul who, as the book begins, is dying in a rubbish bin on the outskirts of the city.
As her brain begins to shut down, Leila goes back in time to trace her story, while her friends, who she remembers in those ‘in-between’ moments between life and death, desperately look for her.
Leila, for me, is ebullient, larger than life, and intensely lovable. Despite being brutalised and living much of her life in danger, her humanity shines through. Leila has heart and soul and her friends, a strange group of ‘undesirables,’ adore her. A life-affirming read.
'Expect vibrant, vivid and eye-opening descriptions of Middle Eastern life propelled by a tender storyline, all in Shafak's haunting, beautiful and considered prose' Vanity Fair
'Incredibly sensuous and poetic and evocative' Pandora Sykes
'In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila's consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore...'
For Leila, each minute after her death recalls a sensuous memory: spiced goat stew, sacrificed by her father to celebrate the birth of a yearned-for son; bubbling vats of lemon and…
This is the fourth book in the Joplin/Halloran forensic mystery series, which features Hollis Joplin, a death investigator, and Tom Halloran, an Atlanta attorney.
It's August of 2018, shortly after the Republican National Convention has nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate. Racial and political tensions are rising, and so…
One of my favourites, this story is narrated by Elly, a girl who befriends Mr. Golan, her elderly neighbour. But their friendship takes a dark turn, and only Elly’s brother, Joe, knows her secret. Joe gives Elly a pet rabbit, which she names God, to alleviate the loneliness of her childhood.
As an adult, Elly finds her calling as a newspaper columnist, writing about the relationships she has lost and found, and eventually learns to rely on the family and friends who have stood by her during her years of silence about what happened to her as a child.
Elly as a child is innocent but no-nonsense, learning to rely on herself when the family moves, causing her to lose touch with her best friend. The story is both funny and tragic, but it’s Elly who makes it such a good novel.
The SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER from the author of STILL LIFE
'Thronging with incident and wonder' Guardian 'Beautifully true . . . superb' The Times 'Captivating' Observer 'Beguiling . . . You can't get the voice out of your head' Daily Mail
This is a book about a brother and sister.
It's a book about childhood and growing up, friendships and families, triumph and tragedy and everything in between.
More than anything, it's a book about love in all its forms.
I’m finally in a good place. A steady job. A lovely home. With Jason, the love of my life. Reliable, kind, honest Jason—I trust him completely. But if one person can lead Jason astray, it’s his best friend. And now he’s on our doorstep. Desperate for help. As usual. I beg Jason not to get involved. His friend is always getting him in trouble. But what he wants this time could destroy everything we’ve built. And I’m the one who’ll be left to pick up the pieces. Can I protect him from his best friend? How far will I go?
