Women in HistoryLike this list

20 items

• Violeta

  a Novel

  Allende, Isabel,

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  Spans the one-hundred-year life of Violeta Del Valle. Violeta tells the story of her life in a letter to a loved one, spanning historical events such as the Great War, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and the fight for women’s…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Conjure Women

  a Novel

  Atakora, Afia,

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  Rue is a midwife, healer, and conjurer of curses on a southern plantation. The timeline jumps back and forth between the years before and after the Civil War. This is Atakora’s debut novel.

• The Personal Librarian

  Benedict, Marie,

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  Tells the fictional account of Belle da Costa Greene, a real-life figure who was hired in 1905 by J.P. Morgan to be his personal librarian. But Belle is hiding a secret: she is Black woman passing as white. Written by both a Black and a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Switchboard Soldiers

  a Novel

  Chiaverini, Jennifer,

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  Tells the untold stories of the women from the US Army Signal Corps during World War I. Recruited by the army for their French and English-speaking skills, the women were sent to Europe to work as telephone operators and ensured the lines…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Last Train to Key West

  Cleeton, Chanel,

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  Set against the backdrop of 1935 Key West, three women’s lives are thrown off course by powerful hurricanes. Be sure to check out Cleeton’s other historical fiction novels, taking place in Cuba and Spain.

• Song of a Captive Bird

  a Novel

  Darznik, Jasmin, 1973-

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  A fictional retelling of the Iranian feminist, poet, and director Forugh Farokhzad. Forugh rejects the traditional, finding her voice in what is considered scandalous poetry in Iranian society.

• Learned by Heart

  Donoghue, Emma, 1969-

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  A fictional account inspired by the true story of Eliza Raine, who was written about in Anne Lister’s diaries about her lesbian love life. The two women meet in a school for young ladies where their friendship eventually turns sexual.

• Memoirs of a Geisha

  Golden, Arthur, 1957-

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  Nitta Sayuri recounts her life as a geisha. In 1929, Nitta was taken from her home and sold into slavery to a geisha house where she learns the rigorous arts of being a geisha.

• Libertie

  a Novel

  Greenidge, Kaitlyn,

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  Libertie is stifled by her mother’s vision for her, and constantly reminded that her skin is too dark. Libertie accepts a proposal from a young Haitian man, where she is promised to be his equal, but soon discovers that she is still…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Crow Mary

  a Novel

  Grissom, Kathleen,

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  A novel inspired by the true story of a Crow woman from Montana in the late 1800s. Goes First agrees to marry a white fur trader, and she is renamed Mary. On her way to Canada, Mary steals two guns and saves five Nakota women who were…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Woman With the Blue Star

  Jenoff, Pam,

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  Ella, a wealthy Polish girl, helps Sadie and her mother hide from the Nazis. Inspired by the true stories of the men and women who hid from Nazis in the sewers. Check out the other historical fiction novels written by Jenoff.

• The Henna Artist

  Joshi, Alka,

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  Lakshmi escapes from an abusive marriage to the city of Jaipur where she becomes a renowned henna artist to the upper class. Lakshmi is privy to the secrets of the wealthy women but can never reveal her own. The first in the Henna Artist…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lilac Girls

  a Novel

  Kelly, Martha Hall,

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  Based on a true story, Kelly’s debut novel is told from the points of view of three women whose paths converge after World War II. The other books in the series include Lost Roses and Sunflower Sisters.

• The Invention of Wings

  Kidd, Sue Monk

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  Tells the story of Sarah, the daughter of the Grimke family, and Hetty “Handful” Grimke, a slave. The story begins when Sarah is given ownership of Handful to be her handmaid. It spans the next thirty-five years of their lives.

• The Marriage Portrait

  O'Farrell, Maggie, 1972-

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  Being the third daughter of the grand duke, Lucrezia de Medici is content being overlooked. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna, and Regio, the groom chooses Lucrezia to be his bride.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Take My Hand

  Perkins-Valdez, Dolen,

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  Inspired by true events in 1970s Montgomery, Alabama. Civil Townsend, a Black nurse, is shocked when one of her first nursing jobs is to sterilize two young Black girls who have never even kissed a boy. Civil fights against this injustice…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932

  a Novel

  Prose, Francine, 1947-

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  A wide range of characters interact at the Chameleon Club: Gabor, a Hungarian photographer; self-absorbed American novelist Lionel Maine; Baroness Lily de Rossignol, a former actress; Suzanne Dunois, once Lionel’s love, now Gabor’s; and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Mad Girls of New York

  Rodale, Maya,

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  In 1887 New York, reporter Nellie Bly dreams to write for more than just the ladies’ pages. Nellie accepts an assignment to go undercover as a patient at Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum for Women. The story about the unimaginable horrors…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lady Tan's Circle of Women

  a Novel

  See, Lisa,

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  An historical doctor from 15th century China, Tan Yunxian is forced into an arranged marriage and forbidden to continue her work as a midwife. With the support and loyalty of the women around her, she publishes her book Miscellaneous…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Women in the Castle

  a Novel

  Shattuck, Jessica,

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  Three women’s lives intertwine after the loss of their husbands in World War II. Fulfilling a promise made to her husband’s conspirators, Marianne sets out to find and protect the widows of the men of the resistance.