26 MARCH 2015 | CULTURE

As word hit that one of our very favorite authors Harper Lee is set to publish a secret and long hidden second novel in just a couple of months time, we got to thinking of all the other extraordinary female authors whose books we have so enjoyed reading. Whether traditional classics or modern greats, love stories or mysteries, angst filled poetry or society satires, these books have all been important to us for different reasons. Some, because they bear testament to the period in which they were written or show us what it meant to be a woman in their particular time, others because they cast light on aspects of our emotional lives we otherwise couldn’t quite articulate. Some have educated and inspired us whilst the rest have just been plain wonderful to read. Here, in no particular order, are the ten female authors we personally consider essential on any bookshelf.

Emily Bronte
Steeped in moodiness, romance and general windswept brilliance, Wuthering Heights is not only one of literatures great Classics, but one of its most evocative love stories, too.

Joan Didion
She may have just been made the face of Celine, but Joan Didion has long been where it’s at when it comes to beautiful, moving words. Just read The Year of Magical Thinking, her memoir of the year after her husband’s death, to see why.

Nora Ephron
Whether she’s recounting her thoughts on heartbreak, aging or depilation, there isn’t much Nora Ephron has written that isn’t hilarious, heartwarming and completely brilliant in our eyes.

Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird was, is, and always will be one of our very favorite books – and we eagerly await its prequel.

Jane Austen
Take your pick from Emma, Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, sit back, and enjoy a lively and totally enjoyable romp through 19th Century England from one of our very sharpest social satirists.

Maya Angelou
I know why the Caged Bird Sings is something people simply should read – and pass on to their daughters.

Sylvia Plath
All the more haunting for it’s autobiographical overtones and Plath’s death just a month before its publication, The Bell Jar’s tale of a woman’s search for her own identity and independence set against a painful backdrop of debilitating mental illness is enlightening and harrowing in equal parts.

Donna Tartt
A Secret History gripped us, The Goldfinch delighted us – Donna Tartt’s books are truly treasures to loose yourself in.

Jung Chang
Chang’s Wild Swans is a sweeping, brilliant and moving story of the generations of women in her family who lived through 20th Century China. Its stories of courage, loss and love, of hardship, endurance and of strength are uplifting and important to read.

Virginia Woolf
Whether you look to Mrs Dalloway or To the Lighthouse, Woolf’s detailed depictions of her female characters draw back the curtain on the complexities of life in truly thought provoking ways.

Photo Courtesy of alibris.com 

LEAVE COMMENTS