10 Books With Strong Female Characters To Read This Women’s Day

Women’s Day is around the corner, and it’s time to celebrate in a bookish way. So here is a list of 10 books with strong female characters to read this women’s day. Some of these books are classics, others are contemporary and most are from diverse genres. Also, most of these are easily accessible and quite popular, so you can pick them right away!

The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Divakaruni has been known to flip historical and mythological narratives that have often been told by men, and tell them from the perspective of women. In this book, thus, she tells the story of Sita, the ideal wife of Rama, who accompanied her husband into his arboreal exile, was abducted by the demon Ravana and salvaged her dignity thereafter.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This book tells the moving story of two women with completely different life trajectories that nevertheless cross paths in an unlikely manner. Together, they pick up the pieces of their lives fractured by patriarchy and find some semblance of solace within their friendship. What emerges is a poignant tale of grief, adversity, loss, identity and womanhood.

Chokher Bali by Rabindranath Tagore

One of the earliest attempts in Indian fiction to portray a woman with boldness and character, this book is a love triangle. At its heart is Binodini, a woman widowed at the prime of her youth. Basically, she seeks revenge against her ex suitor who is now a happily married man. This book is stark in its picture of widowhood and adversity as well as sensuality.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

This is essentially a murder mystery. It follows a woman charged with the murder of the man she works for. As a psychologist investigates the night of the incident, whose memory has been wiped out from the woman’s mind, thought provoking events unravel. In this book, Atwood portrays the dignity of her female protagonist with sensitivity.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Essentially an antiwar novel, this book has at its heart a young girl. We follow Nazi Germany through the eyes of little Liesel and her story. She enters the Hubermann household perpetually on the brink of poverty, steals books to quench her narrative thirst and ultimately finds the courage to harbour a Jewish fugitive.

Emma by Jane Austen

This classic is a novel of the Romanticism period and follows a high class English society. Emma, after whom the book gets its name, is a beautiful and intelligent young woman who perpetually engages in matchmaking. When things go awry, however, situations force her to introspect and mature. This turns her into an even stronger and better woman.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

This French classic has millions of admirers. It follows the bored and beautiful Emma Bovary who feels “trapped” in her marriage. She seeks stimulation through romantic books and extramarital affairs, but ends up finding love. Although her actions are deplorable and unjustifiable, this is still the story of a strong woman born in the wrong era.

That Long Silence by Shashi Deshpande

Deshpande’s novel, which won her the Sahitya Akademi award, tells the stream of consciousness story of a housewife. In the wake of a fight with her husband who has laundered money, she reviews her life in retrospect. What emerges is portrait of a life of a strong woman with infinite endurance, as well as the lives of other women she knows.

After You by Jojo Moyes

This is the sequel to ‘Me Before You’ which was a love story between Louisa and a quadriplegic man who decides on euthanasia. This book follows the aftermath, in which Louisa picks up the pieces of her broken heart and finds the strength within to continue. In the end, she also finds the capacity within to fall in love again

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The protagonist of this book, Tris, shatters all female stereotypes. She is a warrior with immense courage. Also, she is ‘divergent’ – she can’t fit into the boxes society asks her to fit into. What ensues is the brilliant story of an extraordinarily strong woman.

Also Read: Similarities Between Indian Mythology and Greek Mythology