100 Books Like Véra

Nell Painter’s biography of Sojourner Truth breaks new ground in a different way. Sojourner Truth is famous, an iconic freedom fighter and advocate for Black and female suffrage. We all know her demand for recognition, “Ain’t I a woman?” Or do we? Painter’s research reveals a much more complicated woman and investigates why history has reduced a fascinating life story to that one simple question, which might never have been asked, at least in those precise words. Read this book to find out the true story of Sojourner Truth.  

Alice James changed my life as a writer. It completely opened up the field of biography and pointed the way to the work I’ve been doing for almost four decades: writing women’s lives. Before Alice James, biographies had to be of famous people, usually men. Here was a book about the little sister of the great novelist Henry James and the eminent philosopher William James, a woman who had essentially done nothing with her own talent and brilliance except—luckily!—keep a diary. Jean Strouse read that diary and used it as the entry point for a whole book about the dynamics of an extraordinary family, about women’s choices in 19th century America, about invalidism and suppressed ambition. It’s a riveting psychological tale full of poignance and unexpected heroism.  

Anyone who admires the portraits of John Singer Sargent is sure to know his gorgeous Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, the exquisite grouping of four girls in white pinafores emerging from the shadowy rooms of an elegant Parisian apartment. But do you know the girls, and how Sargent came to paint them? And what became of them all? Erica Hirshler, a curator at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, where the painting is on permanent exhibition, has written a book that reveals all in a stylish and richly nuanced historical detective story.  

Janice Nimura has uncovered a marvelous and strange tale of five Japanese girls selected by the Meiji Restoration government to travel to the United States to learn Western ways during a period of modernization. Three of them remained through their school years, their lives entwining with host families and new friends as they overcame prejudice and proved themselves bright, eager learners. Yet they returned with their new knowledge to a Japan once again suspicious of outside influence, their lives forever altered by their time away as the human subjects of a grand social experiment with unintended consequences. I loved getting to know these girls as they grew into womanhood, striving to realize their hopes and dreams as the world changed around them.  

This classic book, unlike others in the list, is not so much about memory, as a collection of the author’s memories of his childhood and early years.

Nabokov was born into a wealthy family in pre-Revolutionary Russia in 1899. His childhood in St. Petersburg and at the family’s country estate are described in loving detail, as are aspects of later years in England, Germany, and France. Nabokov was one of the great writers of the 20th Century, and the memories are recounted in his glowing and evocative prose.

His writing is nostalgic, but also wryly humorous, aware that many aspects of his early life are gone forever. Many of the chapters first appeared as articles in The New Yorker; all are eminently readable. 

This book was published years after mine, but I wish it had been around when I was going through my life upheaval. The author writes about relationships and has an intelligent and thoughtful take on marriage. You might not agree with her philosophy, but her book is eye-opening, will challenge your assumptions, and shares information that might help people as they rebuild their lives after widowhood, infidelity, and divorce.

I loved this bold, beautiful novel because of its poetic writing and its unflinching depiction of the strain on a loving couple’s marriage due to the weight of expectations: they are unable to conceive a child while their family expects them to have one.

The rural setting is stunning, and the story is unique and unforgettable. It is both a love story and an investigation of a society that prizes other things over love. A thought-provoking read. I read the English translation. Even in translation, the book was lyrical—I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in Tamil. Again, a refreshing change from Western authors!

Written in elegant prose and with vivid visual detail, this book uncovers an exotic lost world—lost both to the author, with the death of her parents, and to all of us, with the march of history.

This is the world of a British bookshop owner and his Italian-born wife, in Cairo after World War II, in the years leading up to the 1952 revolution that marked the awakening of independent feeling in Egypt. The city Warner uncovers, on the brink of the revolution and after a devastating war, is her childhood paradise, and she is not afraid to portray it as exotic even as she understands the risk of betraying a colonial gaze.

To recreate this world, she uses not only old photographs and her own memories, but also artefacts, from furniture to clothing, shoes, most of all books (not just their content, but as objects), which she researches meticulously,… show more.

Holly appears to have a perfect life, living in a beautiful house, lunching with friends, married to handsome Zach, a hospital doctor.

But gradually we discover that Holly’s life is one of fear: she is a victim of gaslighting. If Holly dares to cross Zach, the cruel, sadistic narcissist shows itself. One of the chapters that sent shivers down my spine was when Zach punishes Holly when she is at her most vulnerable – in the birthing suite.

He sabotages the delivery of their daughter, causing Holly to need a C-section, all because, earlier, Holly left some shoes on the floor and Zach tripped over them.

For much of the book we wonder if Holly will ever be free of her abusive husband, but the author creates a wonderful ending which had me clapping my hands with delight.

I’ve only been to Paris one time, but I feel as if I’ve been many times because I toured this city with Paula McLain and the story of Hadley Hemingway, Ernest’s first and most beloved wife. From the cafes to the cobbled streets to the parlors and apartments, I was engrossed. 

This is the wild story of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife. Hadley was a quiet twenty-eight-year-old woman who had given up on love until she met Ernest. Their whirlwind romance was ill-prepared for the fast living of Jazz Age Paris. It is a beautiful portrayal of love and loyalty, of art and heartbreak.