Here are 100 books that The Women of the Bible Speak fans have personally recommended if you like
The Women of the Bible Speak.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I became a Christian when I was 16 and have studied the Bible throughout my lifetime. I have been a professional writer and author for more than 40 years. I have also studied literature at numerous universities and taught English, journalism, and writing. Combine all of these, and it is understandable why librarians at a library convention once surrounded me and said, “We trust your research!” You can see why I am adamant, even in fiction and poetry, about the piece being well-written, well-researched, and three-dimensional believable characters who tap into our emotions. I set high standards for myself, and high standards for books I read and recommend.
I loved Lioness because it took such incredible inner strength for the daughters of Zelophehad to stand before Moses, as judge, and argue their case for equal rights for women regarding inheritance laws.
The characters and time period became so real to me that I read through this novel series, following the daughters to Canaan. The author spun a fiction tale around the biblical account and filled it with deep historical background, plus touched on the emotional core of Mahlah and her sisters.
I love Britton’s writing, too; it reminds me of Joyce Landorf’s fiction style.
While the Israelites struggle to occupy the Promised Land of God, Mahlah bat Zelophehad is orphaned and left to care for her four sisters. But daughters of the dead are unable to inherit land, and it will take a miracle for Mahlah to obtain the means to care for her sisters and uphold the vow she made to her dying mother.
Mahlah must seek Moses, the leader of her people, and request something extraordinary--the right for a daughter to inherit her deceased father's land. A right that will upset the ox-cart of male inheritance and thrust her into the role…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I became a Christian when I was 16 and have studied the Bible throughout my lifetime. I have been a professional writer and author for more than 40 years. I have also studied literature at numerous universities and taught English, journalism, and writing. Combine all of these, and it is understandable why librarians at a library convention once surrounded me and said, “We trust your research!” You can see why I am adamant, even in fiction and poetry, about the piece being well-written, well-researched, and three-dimensional believable characters who tap into our emotions. I set high standards for myself, and high standards for books I read and recommend.
I attended a Bible study where the male leader had the “Marys” in the New Testament mixed up. Once home, I sorted the women out. It can be confusing.
Such as, there are two different accounts of women anointing Jesus’ feet and wiping them with their hair—Mary from Bethany and an unnamed sinner woman. Salome (Virgin Mary’s sister) is sometimes called Mary. There were three Marys at the tomb.
In Women Who Followed Jesus, author Dani Daley Mackall dramatizes nine women (including four Marys) in narrative (historical fiction) accounts of their encounters with Jesus. Before each woman’s story are scriptures. After each first-person biblical account are questions for reflection and a prayer.
This book clarified the women and gave insight into how they may have felt. I also learned about Jewish customs because of the deep research.
ECPA Easter Bestseller 2024 2025 FINALIST Christian Book Awards
"Powerful daily encouragement that will enhance your walk with God." ―Jerry B. Jenkins, writer of the Left Behind series and The Chosen novels
Step into the untold stories of the women who walked with Jesus―women whose faith, courage, and devotion shaped the early church.
Women Who Followed Jesus is a transformative 40-day devotional that brings fresh insight into the lives of Mary, the Mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene; Joanna; Susanna; Salome; and others who witnessed Christ's ministry, death, and resurrection. From the author of Three Wise Women comes this Bible-Based Devotional…
I became a Christian when I was 16 and have studied the Bible throughout my lifetime. I have been a professional writer and author for more than 40 years. I have also studied literature at numerous universities and taught English, journalism, and writing. Combine all of these, and it is understandable why librarians at a library convention once surrounded me and said, “We trust your research!” You can see why I am adamant, even in fiction and poetry, about the piece being well-written, well-researched, and three-dimensional believable characters who tap into our emotions. I set high standards for myself, and high standards for books I read and recommend.
Francine Rivers has always been a master at writing biblical fiction.
As a teen my daughter read many of Rivers’s novels. But I never took the time to do so until another best-selling author recommended to me A Lineage of Grace. It is a collection of short stories, nearly the length of novellas, following five women in the lineage of Jesus Christ.
The story that captured me most was Tamar’s. I had never thought about her viewpoint as a Canaanite, or why she went to the extreme measure she did, pretending to be a prostitute, to hold her father-in-law Judah to his promise and bare his children.
I love books that make me see something on a slant, from a different viewpoint. There are also Bible study questions at the end of each woman’s story.
The complete biblical historical fiction compilation by the New York Times bestselling author of Redeeming Love and A Voice in the Wind.
The Bible is filled with inspiring stories of unlikely candidates God chose to change eternity. This bestselling compilation in one volume contains five novellas about such people―women in the family tree of Jesus Christ.
Tamar. Rahab. Ruth. Bathsheba. Mary.
Each was faced with extraordinary―even scandalous―challenges. But they had courage. They lived daring lives. Sometimes they made mistakes―big mistakes. And yet God, in His infinite mercy and grace, used them to bring forth the Christ, the Savior of the…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I became a Christian when I was 16 and have studied the Bible throughout my lifetime. I have been a professional writer and author for more than 40 years. I have also studied literature at numerous universities and taught English, journalism, and writing. Combine all of these, and it is understandable why librarians at a library convention once surrounded me and said, “We trust your research!” You can see why I am adamant, even in fiction and poetry, about the piece being well-written, well-researched, and three-dimensional believable characters who tap into our emotions. I set high standards for myself, and high standards for books I read and recommend.
What I loved most about this collection of free verse persona poetry were the poems about women in the Bible.
I found certain lines sticking with me, such as “I danced,” reflecting the cavalier attitude King Herod’s step-daughter Salome had regarding her part in the beheading of John the Baptist. The author was also thought-provoking in her viewpoint of motives for women such as Bathsheba.
The rest of the book is filled with poems about the author, Childress, growing up in Appalachia. However, the biblical women poems, in my opinion, are among the best I have read in this sub-genre.
In Outside the Frame, Catherine Pritchard Childress gives full-throated voice to those who are historically silenced, while bearing witness to a complex culture that both perpetuates that silence and cries out to be heard and to be seen. Seeking to subvert tradition in the pursuit of truth, these poems move seamlessly between worlds-the biblical and the contemporary, the mythical and the uncomfortably real. The speakers in here reflect not the poet, but any woman-all women-from Lot's wife to housewife-unnamed, unheard, yet unrelenting. Whether set in ancient history or contemporary Appalachia, these poems at once rage and sing, disrupt and reconcile.…
I worked in publishing while earning my master’s degree in English, thinking I would eventually teach. Stories, however, were my first love, as was theology. I grew up in the church, but it wasn’t until I discovered how to study the Bible through a cultural lens that Scripture came springing to life in a new way. I was hooked, and I began to see an intersection between my passions—storytelling, teaching, and theology. Now, I pen stories that highlight the humanity of Bible characters and the goodness of the God they serve. My hope is that the Bible will spring to life for others the way it did for me.
After reading this book by Stephanie Landsem, I feel as though I’ve lived in the Samaritan village of Sychar, drawn water from the well, sat beneath the wagging tongues of villagers, and experienced the transformative love of Jesus the Messiah.
This immersive story gives a beautiful background to the Samaritan woman in John 4, told from the perspective of her daughter, Mara. The hurt and desperation in Mara were gut-wrenching and pulled me right into the story.
I appreciated how the author focused on all the people surrounding the main character from the Bible, showing how one person’s choices—and transformation—impact so many others. A beautiful book full of heartbreak and hope.
In the rich tradition of Francine Rivers's Lineage of Grace series, comes a beautiful retelling of the biblical story of the woman at the well-bringing to life this poignant young woman struggling to survive love and heartbreak.
Could he be the One we've been waiting for?
For the women of the Samaritan village of Sychar, the well is a place of blessing-the place where they gather to draw their water and share their lives-but not for Mara. Shunned for the many sins of her mother, Nava, Mara struggles against the constant threats of starvation or exile.
Joy Schroeder is a historian devoted to examining the experiences of women in Christianity and Judaism. With concern for female and male victims of violence, Schroeder scrutinizes historical documents to find accounts of harassment, rape, clergy sexual abuse, and other violence. She brings the historical accounts to light while critiquing the cultural patterns that perpetuate violence in our own day. In her work as a pastor and as a professor, she has worked to support victims of harassment, sexual violence, domestic violence, and child abuse. Schroeder is a professor of church history at Capital University (Columbus, Ohio), where she teaches at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and the department of religion and philosophy.
Published in 1984, this book is an enduring classic. Filled with sympathy for victims and survivors, it is a groundbreaking, poignant feminist reading of biblical “texts of terror” about violence against women who were raped, enslaved, ritually sacrificed, or forced to become surrogate mothers. This book transformed the way people now read stories of biblical violence. It calls on readers to acknowledge and remember the suffering of victims—in biblical times and in our own.
Professor Trible focuses on four variations upon the theme of terror in the Bible. By combining the discipline of literary criticism with the hermeneutics of feminism, she reinterprets the tragic stories of four women in ancient Israel: Hagar, Tamar, an unnamed concubine, and the daughter of Jephthah. In highlighting the silence, absence, and opposition of God, as well as human cruelty, Trible shows how these neglected stories interpreted in memoriam challenge both the misogyny of Scripture and its use in church, synagogue, and academy.
A fake date, romance, and a conniving co-worker you'd love to shut down. Fun summer reading!
Liza loves helping people and creating designer shoes that feel as good as they look. Financially overextended and recovering from a divorce, her last-ditch opportunity to pitch her firm for investment falls flat. Then…
Joy Schroeder is a historian devoted to examining the experiences of women in Christianity and Judaism. With concern for female and male victims of violence, Schroeder scrutinizes historical documents to find accounts of harassment, rape, clergy sexual abuse, and other violence. She brings the historical accounts to light while critiquing the cultural patterns that perpetuate violence in our own day. In her work as a pastor and as a professor, she has worked to support victims of harassment, sexual violence, domestic violence, and child abuse. Schroeder is a professor of church history at Capital University (Columbus, Ohio), where she teaches at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and the department of religion and philosophy.
Inspired by midrashic approaches of rabbis who use storytelling to fill in the “gaps” in scriptural narratives, Dr. Wilda Gafney combines her expertise as a biblical scholar with her commitment to racial and gender justice. Gafney expresses particular sympathy for enslaved women forced into sexual servitude and surrogate motherhood, especially Rachel and Leah’s servants (“womb-slaves”) Bilhah and Zilpah (Genesis 30).
Womanist Midrash is an in-depth and creative exploration of the well- and lesser-known women of the Hebrew Scriptures. Using her own translations, Gafney offers a midrashic interpretation of the biblical text that is rooted in the African American preaching tradition to tell the stories of a variety of female characters, many of whom are often overlooked and nameless. Gafney employs a solid understanding of womanist and feminist approaches to biblical interpretation and the sociohistorical culture of the ancient Near East. This unique and imaginative work is grounded in serious scholarship and will expand conversations about feminist and womanist biblical interpretation.
I worked in publishing while earning my master’s degree in English, thinking I would eventually teach. Stories, however, were my first love, as was theology. I grew up in the church, but it wasn’t until I discovered how to study the Bible through a cultural lens that Scripture came springing to life in a new way. I was hooked, and I began to see an intersection between my passions—storytelling, teaching, and theology. Now, I pen stories that highlight the humanity of Bible characters and the goodness of the God they serve. My hope is that the Bible will spring to life for others the way it did for me.
Tessa Afshar's book is full of grit and honesty that left me rejoicing in the God of new beginnings.
It traces the story of Rahab the prostitute in the Old Testament, contextualizing it with an intriguing “before” and “after” picture of this Canaanite woman who aided the Israelites and eventually became one of them.
I absolutely loved the growth in Salmone and Rahab’s relationship. The author carefully and respectfully depicts how a marriage can thrive even through trauma and hurt. This story tackles hard topics with so much grace, beauty, and hope.
Can a Canaanite harlot who made her living enticing men be a fitting wife for a leader of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes.
This 10th anniversary edition of Pearl in the Sand includes new features that will invite you into the untold story of Rahab’s journey from lowly outcast to redeemed child of God. Rahab’s home is built into a wall, a wall that fortifies and protects the City of Jericho. However, other walls surround her too, walls of fear, rejection, and unworthiness… Years of pain and betrayal have wounded Rahab’s heart—she doubts whether her dreams of experiencing…
I’m an Egyptologist by training and a storyteller by nature. Fascinated by the origins of patriarchy since I was a small girl raised by strong women in a patriarchal context, I turned to Greek and Roman history for answers. I earned an MA and a richer understanding of the civilizations that influenced the classical period, which led to the study of Egypt and Mesopotamia and finally to a Ph.D. in Egyptology. At heart, I’m more creative than scholar. Telling stories that bring ancient Egypt to life and leave readers better informed of the challenges women have faced, and sometimes overcome, is my passion.
This book fueled my feminist rage and left me thinking about it for months after I put it down.
Unapologetically pro-women, Marmery challenges some of the patriarchy’s most sacred foundations. I love the courage of this book. It’s an intimate read but somehow also feels large and distant. For me, this one is a ca n’t-miss read that makes you think, wonder, and fume.
A triumphantly feminist retelling of ancient creation myths in the tradition of Madeline Miller and Claire North.
Lyrically rendered, this epic U.S. debut tells the story of the woman known as Adam's first wife and her fall from Paradise and quest for revenge.
Before Eve, there was Lilith.
Lilith and Adam are equal and happy in the Garden of Eden. Until Adam decides Lilith should submit to his will and lie beneath him. She refuses—and is banished forever from Paradise.
Demonized and sidelined, Lilith watches in fury as God creates Eve, the woman who accepts her submission. But Lilith has…
“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.
At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…
I’ve been a reader since childhood and books have simply become a part of my life’s tapestry. They have comforted me in times of stress. They have provided me with ripples of joy. And simply kept me up almost all night. The books that I have recommended underscore the changing cultures of the human condition all centered around three universal themes, faith, mental illness, and family. When drafting my first novel I dived into simply capturing aspects of the human condition. As a mental health clinician I see the many tides of life and how the human condition has many times been couched within family dynamics.
This novel is simply beautiful. It surrounds the biblical character Esther and her unexpected transition from being snatched from her home and dumped into the harem of the king. This novel highlights coping with the unexpected path that life sometimes presents. It is also careful to highlight how culture can influence our experiences and decisions. Esther dives into how this young woman learns to navigate the road less traveled and finds a new one all her own. It is not a coming-of-age story, it is a coming of self story. The power of a woman is clearly outlined in this novel and how being buried under pressure can create a diamond indeed.
When an ambitious tyrant threatens genocide against the Jews, an inexperienced young queen must take a stand for her people.
When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan living in Susa, is forcibly taken to the palace of the pagan ruler. After months of preparation, the girl known to the Persians as Esther wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. But because her situation is uncertain, she keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews--young…
