The female voice, having been suppressed for so long, is now bubbling over and overflowing in novels now. We’ve curated a list of 10 best books told from a female perspective. Whether these books are written in the first person or third person, it is this female lens of viewing the world that stands out. So let us look at books with women POV.
Best Books Told From a Female Perspective | Books With Women POV:
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
This is a book that reads like an autobiography. It follows a woman in prison for a crime she has no memory of committing. As a psychiatrist comes specially to pry open her memory and investigate the murder, she begins talking about her life story. What emerges is a delightfully female voice, along with the tenderness and hardships that accompany it.
The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
With ‘Palace of Illusions’, Chitra twisted the Indian epic Mahabharata and brought to the fore Draupadi’s life. Here, she tells the story of the revered epic Ramayana, from the perspective of Sita. We become privy to her personal life. Chitra’s Sita is not a docile and submissive woman. She is simultaneously loving, kind, loyal and also fierce, independent and a woman with agency.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf perhaps exemplified the voice of the woman in the 20th century. This book talks of the Ramsay family and their inherent intricacies. It endows the female protagonist with layers and layers to peel off – a true treasure of words.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
This story talks of a woman, Emma Bovary, who is bored of her marriage and seeks excitement outside of it. It’s a beautifully tragic story and a must read for that, but also for the bold portrayal of a disloyal woman not as condemned but as a victim of circumstance. Flaubert’s masterpiece overflows with candour and sensitivity.
Persuasion by Jane Austen
All of Jane Austen’s books have female protagonists who depict their female worlds in beautiful words, but this does it more than the others. At the centre of this novel is a woman in love with her ex-lover, but when he returns he seems to hate her. Eventually, she finds her own agency and the lovers reconcile. This is a tender depiction of the female world in Austen’s time.
Villette by Charlotte Bronte
This book is the journey of an English woman, Lucy Snowe, who flees her tragic past in England to settle down in a French boarding school. Full of the delicacy of emotion and tragic sensitivity that characterises women, this one is Bronte’s masterpiece and her last work, overshadowing even Jane Eyre.
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
This is a book that features only (except one) female characters. It tells the story of multiple family who return to their roots in Istanbul. The plat is masterful, and so is the characterization. The males of the family are cursed to die, and the females (largely eccentric characters) live on.
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
This book gives voice to a marginalized community even within the female community – the non heterosexual females. The protagonist of the story suffers a series of miscarriages, and realises that though she married a man, she is into women too. Soon she falls in love with a woman and they decide to adopt. But the protagonist’s ex husband turns ‘religious’ and creates obstacles for the same sex couple.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Although Hosseini uses a third person voice, he really gives the perspectives of two brilliant, resilient and wonderful women, namely Mariam and Laila. He weaves their stories with delicacy and wondrous dexterity, by drawing on the sociopolitical scenario in Afghanistan at the time.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
This gothic romance follows our protagonist, a poor woman who falls in love with a charming and wealthy widower. It is only after she sees his ginormous estate that she realizes the impact the late wife of her husband is going to exert on their marital lives.
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