Books like Lady MacBethad — picked by fans

What’s better than a strong female lead character? A whole cast of them! A group of servants gang together to pull off the ultimate heist, clearing an entire house during a party. How audacious is that?! As soon as I read that premise, I had to find out how on earth they would pull it off.

Rather like an Edwardian, all-women Ocean’s Eleven, the plot has clever twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. I really enjoyed getting to know each one of the gang, too, as they’re all so different, and the book as a whole was such a refreshing take on both historical fiction and the heist genre. 

From the very first page of sublime writing, I knew I would love this story. Set in 1839, it features a lot of gothic tropes that really appeal to me: a creepy house, a cemetery, murder, and a charming man who can’t be trusted. But most of all, I loved the lead character, Bonnie–although I didn’t always like her!

Bonnie is a head-strong young woman whose life has been mapped out for her by men–her father, the ancient rector who ‘fell in love with her’ when he baptized her as a baby, and the charming, dangerous Crawford. I felt her frustration, desire for more, anger at never being listened to, and fear. However, clever, ambitious Bonnie is willing to do whatever it takes to survive–and thrive.

Call me strange, but I love a book that walks a moral tightrope. This book does just that because it tells the fictionalized but true story of Guilia Tofana, the first documented female serial killer in history.

What she does is abhorrent: poisoning men. But it’s why she did it that caught my interest because she killed men who beat and brutalized their wives, and she operated at a time when there was no redress for these women.

All out of options, desperate, and in terror of their lives, they would turn to Guilia. I found myself both repelled by her and drawn to her, and I couldn’t put this book down until the final page…

At first glance, this may seem like a strange choice for this list of books featuring fierce female lead characters, given the storyline of a woman having an affair with a sculptor who makes her his muse. However, I fell in love with the writing, which is so evocative that I could almost smell the baked air of 17th-century Rome and feel the uneven cobbles beneath my feet.

But as the story developed, I loved the character of Costanza more…and as the plot played out, I almost howled in anger at what she endured. This is another story based on real people, and once I had finished it, I not only read the author’s note but did some Googling (I adore a book that makes me want to find out more!). My admiration for the strength of Costanza grew even greater when I saw what she went on to become.

This book contains tough questions that I have struggled with in the past like, “Why would God allow this to happen?” “Does God see me?” “How can God use this for His glory?” I found comfort in these pages. I learned the struggle of many during the Jacobite uprising—something I knew precious little about, and I have Scottish heritage!

Laura always transports me into history, and I love how she combines stories of struggle with hope. I always walk away from her books with new knowledge of history and encouragement for my own life. Besides, I can never say no to a good romance!

Whilst I’ve enjoyed most of Irvine Welsh’s books, The Acid House (a collection of short stories) is my favourite because it so accurately crystallises a particular culture, place and time.

The stories are set in Edinburgh and its environs during a period when I was living in a village nearby. My familiarity with the settings made The Acid House feel intimate, sometimes unsettlingly so. I love the way each story blends the real and the surreal. There are drugs and booze galore, of course, as well as brutality and revenge, but the author’s savvy wit and incisive dialogue give these tales gravitas, authenticity and philosophical depth.

I laughed when a couple of years ago I witnessed “Scotland’s top cop” (in the spoof police documentary Scot Squad) sum up Irvine Welsh’s written output as “monkey gibberish” – the barely concealed glee with which that phrase was delivered by comedian Jack… show more.

In The Sterkarm Handshake, the device for time travel is simply a tube; not magical, but scientific, down which modern ruthless developers travel back to 16th century Scotland. Here they meet with equally ruthless highlanders. The scientists are planning to plunder Scotland’s resources (the 16th-century locals have been plundering roundabout for years), and of course, the modern developers run into problems. As in all books of this genre, the characters who travel through time may want to fit in or may choose to reject what the past has to offer. 

The heroine, like similar time-travellers, falls in love with a long-dead character and here, there’s also the possibility of the 16th century Scots coming up the tube to 20th century England – a good twist. There are also some very satisfying links between past and present, moments where you smile and think, Ah, how clever!

The beauty of this novel is that it takes sweeping historical change – the Highland Clearances of Scotland – and manages to make history intimate, showing the impact of events on one vulnerable old woman. In the nineteenth century, much of rural Scotland was forcibly "cleared" of people to make room for sheep grazing. Outside of Scotland, this great tragedy of Scottish history is not as well known as it should be, and neither is Smith’s book.

I love its deliberately naïve style, as we see the world through the old woman’s eyes and feel her pain as history crashes down on her. It’s full of the beauty of the natural world, but it’s also chilling, as it demonstrates the indifference of outsiders to a long-established way of life. 

I’ve been deeply engaged in questions of women’s spirituality, including the accusations of witchcraft leveled at healers, psychics, and just plain unpopular women.

The witch in question is Janet Horne, whose execution in 1727 marked the last witchcraft trial and judicial killing in Britain. The harrowing story of this woman and her daughter, set in Dornoch in far northeastern Scotland, provides the basis for Paris’s heartfelt novel.

I was taken by his use of a traveling group of entertainers as a major element in the story of prejudice and malice. Just this year, an official tartan was released, commemorating the hundreds who lost their lives. The pattern is predominantly black, with red for the tape on legal documents and gray denoting ash.

I love this – Tom’s only published novel – not just because of the author’s impressive command of brevity (a prolific poet and short-story writer, he is a master of saying more with less) but also because his poet’s love of language shines through in the dialogue: each character has unique verbal habits and idiosyncrasies, just as people in real life have.

Tom’s characters are the sort of folk I want to hang out with: philosophers, all; originals; one-offs; salt of the Earth. There’s also a wolf angle. Wolves have always resonated with me. As a child, I photographed them wherever I could (mainly wildlife parks). In Nahatlatch Valley, British Columbia, where I holidayed with my family when I was seven, I lay in bed in the log cabin each night, howling along with the wolves whose song filled the forest outside.

As a nineteen-year-old on holiday in Spain, I… show more.