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19th & 20th Century Fiction by Women Writers

19th Century Fiction

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813.
A masterpiece of gentle humor concerning the conflict between the prejudice of a young lady and the misinterpreted pride of an aristocratic hero.

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847.
A strong-willed young orphan takes a position as governess for the ward of Mr. Rochester, only to fall in love with her employer, the moody master of Thornfield.

Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847.
A tale of terror and hatred on the Yorkshire moors, where Heathcliff gradually works his revenge against those who separated him from the daughter of his benefactor.

Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899.
The simultaneous awakening of sexuality and artistic talent leads a young mother to reject both husband and home.

Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. 1800.
An old steward tells of the various masters he has served under in the castle and of the decline of the family fortunes.

Eliot, George. Middlemarch. 1872.
Two separate stories, that of Dorothea Brooke and her two marriages, and that of Dr. Lydgate and the Vincy family, loosely knit together in the background of middle-class life in a provincial English town.

Freeman, Mary E. The Revolt of Mother. 1890.
Startling and beautiful stories of poor, obscure, plain women who bring strength and power and imagination to living despite their poverty and isolation.

Gaskel, Elizabeth. Cranford. 1853.
The quiet life among well-bred and sheltered women of limited opportunities in a secluded British village.

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper. 1899.
The story of a woman’s mental breakdown, told with superb psychological and dramatic precision by a commanding feminist of her time.

Jewett, Sara Orne. The Country of the Pointed Firs. 1896.
A series of closely knit local-color sketches of a Maine seaport town during the era of its decay from the grandeur of West Indian trading days.

Sand, George. Lelia. 1833.
A romantic tale describing the sadly misdirected feelings of love that motivate the various characters.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein. 1818.
A monster, created using pseudo-scientific principles and endowed with life turns upon his young German creator and keeps him in anxiety and torment.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 1852.
A faithful old slave, sold from his home in Kentucky, lives for a time with Little Eva and her kindly father and then is sold to the brutal Simon Legree.

Ward, Mary Augusta Arnold. Robert Elsmere. 1888.
The story of a clergyman who loses his belief in traditional Christianity reflects the religious crisis provoked by the liberal theology of the day in England.

 

Early 20th Century Fiction

Barnes, Djuna. Nightwood. 1937.
A psychological study of five people enduring their tortured existences in Paris.

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Mandarins. 1956.
A group portrait of the Existentialist clique, its fellow travelers, and its adversaries in Paris after the German occupation.

Blixen, Karen (Dineson). Seven Gothic Tales. 1934.
Tales by a Danish author are haunted by ghosts of a past age with fantastic adventures played to the rules of the game.

Bowen, Elizabeth. The Death of the Heart. 1939.
An innocent young girl encounters the sophisticated futility of life in her half-brother’s home in London.

Cather, Willa. My Antonia. 1918.
The life of Bohemian immigrants and native American settlers in the frontier farmlands of Nebraska.

Colette. Chéri. 1920.
The semi-autobiographical story of the French author’s affair with a “dissolute” young man reflects her varied, active life.

Compton-Burnett, Ivy. Mother and Son. 1955.
A subtle English tale of a mother and her grown son linked in a relationship that excludes the husband and younger children.

Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca. 1938.
After she marries a widower, a timid young woman finds his estate haunted by memories of his first wife until she learns the evil truth.

Glasgow, Ellen. Barren Ground. 1925.
A poor white woman of Virginia, disappointed in love, turns her father’s barren acres into a prosperous farm, but is less successful in her relations with men.

Hurston, Zora Neal. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937.
At 42 and after two marriages, a light-skinned black woman finds the love she dreamed of with a joyous young gambler.

Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Lived in the Castle. 1962.
A strong, ruthless young woman is able to turn aside taunts against her sister, who was acquitted of poisoning members of her family six years before.

Laurence, Margaret. The Stone Angel. 1964.
A 90-year-old woman, an unregenerate sinner, recalls her earlier years and acknowledges that she has not brought joy to her husband, her sons, or herself.

Lehmann, Rosamund. The Ballad and the Source. 1945.
The story of an impulsive Victorian beauty who broke all the rules of her generation and is now a fascinating but sinister grandmother.

McCarthy, Mary. The Group. 1963.
Eight Vassar girls, class of ’33, and the seven eventful years that follow their commencement.

McCullers, Carson. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. 1940.
A subtle parable on fascism in the story of a deaf-mute who becomes the recipient of confidences of other residents of a small Southern town.

Mansfield, Katherine. Bliss, and Other Stories. 1920.
With an ironic ending, the title story describes a blissful afternoon and evening in the life of a woman who loves her husband, her baby and her home.

Nin, Anaïs. Children of the Albatross. 1947.
An American woman in Paris achieves a sense of liberation through dancing after her unhappy childhood in an orphanage.

O’Connor, Flannery. The Violent Bear It Away. 1960.
A quasi-comic tale of a young man called against his will by God, then possessed by the devil until he burns away his sins and becomes a prophet.

Olsen, Tillie. Yonnondio: From the Thirties. 1974.
The poverty-stricken Holbrook family tries to make a living at mining in Wyoming, tenant farming in South Dakota and urban scrounging in Chicago.

Porter, Katherine Ann. Pale Horse, Pale Rider. 1939.
One of three short novels tells of a short-lived love affair between a Southern newspaper-woman and a soldier during the influenza epidemic of World War I.

Rhys, Jean. Quartet. 1929.
A young English woman in Paris, her husband imprisoned, becomes the guest of a British couple—a man who desires her and his wife, who keeps her always under observation until she can finally crush her.

Richardson, Dorothy. Pilgrimage. 1915-38.
Twelve book-length “chapters” of the stream-of-consciousness school describe the thoughts, sense impressions, memories and feelings that the heroine experiences.

Sackville-West, Victoria. The Edwardians. 1930.
A decadent but decorative society is represented by an old manor house and by characters grouped around a young duke who finally breaks with the traditions that have bound him.

Sagan, Françoise. Bonjour Tristesse. 1954.
Teenage Cecile schemes to prevent her father’s remarriage, destroying her would-be stepmother and gaining a sense of corruption and sadness which she can neither lose nor comprehend.

Sharp, Margery. Britannia Mews. 1946.
A chronicle of English life and customs in which the heroine rebels against her Victorian family but eventually comes full circle to live a conventional life.

Stafford, Jean. The Catherine Wheel. 1952.
Catherine is part of a strange triangle formed with the man to whom she was once engaged and his wife, her cousin and best friend.

Stein, Gertrude. Three Lives. 1909.
Sympathetic character studies of three very different women in lowly circumstances.

Undset, Sigrid. Kristin Lavransdatter. 1920-22.
Three historical novels realistically trace the life and psychological development of Kristin from her happy childhood in medieval Catholic Norway, through her romance as wife and mother on a great estate, to her old age and loneliness.

Warner, Sylvia Townsend. Lolly Willowes. 1926.
An English spinster sells her soul to the devil in exchange for the routing of an interfering nephew.

Webb, Mary. Precious Bane. 1924.
A story of the fierce, morose people who live hard lives on Shropshire farms and of a young woman who finds a husband who appreciates her in spite of her harelip.

Welty, Eudora. Delta Wedding. 1946.
An aristocratic Southern family gathers for the wedding of one of its loved members to the plantation overseer.

West, Rebecca. The Birds Fall Down. 1966.
A young Englishwoman is caught in the grip of turn-of-the-century Russian terrorists in a rich and instructive spy thriller.

Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. 1905.
An “American Vanity Fair” satirizes exclusive New York society in a work that shows the conflict between wealth and human values.

Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. 1927.
A stream-of-consciousness novel covering two days among a group of characters whose goal, the lighthouse, symbolizes many things to many people.

Yourcenar, Marguerite. Memoirs of Hadrian. 1951.
The French author’s fictional autobiography written by the Roman emperor on the eve of his death to his 17-year-old grandson.

 

Contemporary Fiction

Adams, Alice. After the War. 2000.
Adams' last novel, a sequel to A Southern Exposure, continues the interrelated stories of the residents of Pinehill, North Carolina, starting in the final months of World War II.

Allende, Isabel. Daughter of Fortune. 1999.
A Chilean orphan, Eliza Sommers, follows her lover to California during the gold rush of 1849 and begins a new life of freedom and independence with the help of the local Chinese doctor, Tao Chien.

Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin. 2000.
In this multi-layered novel, a dying octogenarian recalls her past, including her forced marriage, her sister's suicide, and the publication of her sister's science fiction novel, The Blind Assassin.

Berg, Elizabeth. Until the Real Thing Comes Along. 1999.
Impossibly in love with her gay best friend, 36-year-old Patty, a real estate agent who's biological clock is ticking convinces Ethan to have a baby with her, creating a wealth of emotional complications.

Binchy, Maeve. Scarlet Feather. 2001.
Cathy Scarlett and Tom Feather realize their culinary school dream of opening a posh catering business in Dublin.

Bradford, Barbara Taylor. Where You Belong. 2000.
American photojournalist Val Denning, on assignment in Kosovo, loses her lover in an ambush, and returns to New York where her life takes a dramatic turn.

Brown, Rosellen. Half a Heart. 2000.
A white upper-class suburban woman's life is radically changed when her estranged daughter—the result of an affair with her African American professor—reenters her life after 18 years.

Drabble, Margaret. Gates of Ivory. 1992.
After writer Stephen Cox disappears in Cambodia, his friend Liz Headeland tentatively investigates.

Erdrich, Louise. The Last Report at the Miracles of Little No Horse. 2001.
As his life nears its end, Father Damien dreads other's discovery that he is actually a woman, one who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people, on a remote reservation, as a priest.

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate. 1992.
Tita is expected to spend her life waiting on Mama Elena; when her beloved Pedro marries one of her sisters to stay close to her, she uses food to communicate her emotions.

Gibbons, Kaye. Charms for the Easy Life. 1992.
Three generations of strong Southern women are profiled--a grandmother who heals, a mother in love with the wrong man, and the daughter who narrates.

Gilchrist, Ellen. Starcarbon. 1994.
A father and his two adult daughters struggle with commitment and intimacy, and ultimately win.

Godwin, Gail. Evensong. 1999.
On the eve of the millenium, an Anglican minister and her husband cope with economic depression, mysterious house guests and other crises, while reaffirming their commitment to the community and each other.

Hamilton, Jane. Disobedience. 2000.
A teenaged boy discovers that his mother is having an affair at the same time that he has his own first serious relationship.

Hearon, Shelby. Ella in Bloom. 2001.
Ella and her teenaged daughter are faring well in Louisiana until the death of Ella's older sister brings her home to Texas and the critical judgments of her demanding parents.

Hoffman, Alice. The River King. 2000.
This is a multi-layered romantic murder mystery set in a private school in a small New England town.

Isaacs, Susan. Red, White and Blue. 1998.
The investigation of a radio militia group brings together a reporter and an FBI agent, who though very dissimilar, have roots as descendents of immigrant Jews and share the values of honesty, integrity and optimism.

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. 1998.
In 1960, a fanatical evangelist Baptist preacher takes a wife and four daughters to the Belgian Congo, where the family's fate intersects with that of the newly-independent war-torn country.

Lessing, Doris. Mara and Dann: An Adventure. 1999
In Lessing's hymn to human endurance set thousands of years in the future, ecological disasters have left Earth unrecognizable; a lethal drought in "Ifrik" sends young Mara and Dann on a hazardous adventure north in search of water.

McCorkle, Jill. Final Vinyl Days and Other Stories. 1998.
Nine varied, lively and beguiling stories from the accomplished, humorous short story writer are set in the south and feature beleaguered and resourceful women.

McDermott, Alice. Charming Billy. 1998.
During a funeral lunch for Billy Lynch, his family members take turns discussing the life of this Irish Catholic romantic realist, covering the years from 1945 to 1991, and in particular the alcoholism that finally killed him.

McMillan, Terry. A Day Late and A Dollar Short. 2001.
This is a moving and true depiction of an American family, driven apart and bound together by the real stuff of life: love, loss, grief, infidelity, addiction, pregnancy, forgiveness and the IRS.

Mason, Bobbie Ann. Feather Crowns. 1993.
Chrissie Wheeler, a tobacco farmers wife in Hopewell, Kentucky, gives birth to Americans first recorded quintuplets in 1900.

Miller, Sue. While I Was Gone. 1999.
Forced to confront her memories of her best friend's unsolved murder thirty years before, a woman takes actions with serious consequences to her marriage and her relationships with her grown children.

Moore, Susanna. Sleeping Beauties. 1993.
Clio seeks refuge with her Aunt Emma, who teaches her the legend and history of her Hawaiian family.

Morrison, Toni. Paradise. 1999.
Seventeen miles from the conservative all-Black town of Ruby, Oklahoma, a group of outcasts have created a supportive community, until members of the town vent their murderous rage.

Mukherjee, Bharati. Leave It To Me. 1997.
In this updated Electra story, adopted Debby DiMartino leaves home in Schenectady, New York, in a search for her parents that leads her to San Francisco where she takes her revenge.

Murdoch, Iris. Green Knight. 1994.
A mysterious stranger intervenes in a murder attempt, receives the blow and is left for dead; his return and demand for justice invokes ancient myths.

Oates, Joyce Carol. Faithless: Tales of Transgression. 2001.
Twenty-four compelling and distinguished short stories, preoccupied with sin, range from quiet, intimate tales, to satiric fiction and explore the mysterious private lives of men and women.

Piercy, Marge. Three Women. 1999.
Three generations of strong-willed women come together as Suzanne Blume, a respected lawyer, takes in both her wayward eldest daughter, and her ill and dying mother.

Proulx, Annie. The Shipping News. 1993.
A widower flees upstate New York and settles in the Newfoundland town of his ancestors and transforms from a bumbling outsider to a capable journalist.

Shreve, Anita. The Weight of Water. 1997.
A photographer shoots a photo-essay on an isolated island off the coast of New Hampshire, the scene of a lurid murder in 1873, and becomes completely absorbed by the case until an event of a single moment changes her life forever.

Siddons, Anne River. Nora, Nora. 2000.
Twelve-year-old Peyton, the friendless member of the "Loser Club" in a small 1960s southern town, finds her life changing when her distant cousin Nora comes to town and shocks the locals with her outspoken behavior.

Smiley, Jane. Horse Heaven. 2000.
This big book with a large cast of human and equine characters covers two years on the thoroughbred horse racing circuit.

Spark, Muriel. Aiding and Abetting. 2001.
This savagely witty tale of murder and escape is based on the notorious real-life case of Lord Lucan, who killed his children's nanny, beat his wife and then mysteriously disappeared.

Tan, Amy. The Bonesetter's Daughter. 2001.
The powerful, relationships of mothers and daughters is the theme of this novel of three generations of Chinese American women, beginning at the turn of the twentieth century in a small Chinese village.

Trollope, Joanna. Marrying the Mistress. 2000.
When a 60-year-old judge decides to leave his wife of 40 years for a woman half his age, his actions have an unanticipated effect on the rest of his family.

Tyler, Anne. Back When We Were Grownups. 2001.
As the last of her daughters gets set to marry, Rebecca unwittingly embarks on a season of discontent as she wonders if she's accomplished anything of value as the head of a party-hosting business.

Walker, Alice. The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart. 2000.
These 13 intimate and affectionate stories, some autobiographical, explore women's relationships with husbands, friends, lovers and family members.

Weldon, Fay. Rhode Island Blues. 2000.
In this drama of sexual politics and family secrets, Sophia travels from London to Rhode Island to assist her grandmother in her transition to a nursing home and unravels mysteries about her family.

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