Fictional females

Explore captivating fictional females in literature with our curated list of books featuring strong, complex, and inspiring female characters. Discover must-read novels that celebrate women's stories.

Jane Eyre 3/e Cover
Book

Jane Eyre 3/e

by Charlotte Brontë

The text reprinted in this new edition is that of the 1848 third edition text--the last text corrected by the author.
Rebecca Cover
Book

Rebecca

by Daphne Du Maurier

"Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again." So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past ther beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten...her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant -- the sinister Mrs. Danvers -- still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca...for the secrets of Manderley.
Item Not Found
ID: 1558615059
(Type: books)
My Ántonia Cover
Book

My Ántonia

by Willa Cather

The reminiscences of a New York lawyer, Jim Burden, about his boyhood in Nebraska, particularly a young Bohemian girl named Antonia Shimerda, are set against the backdrop of the American assimilation of immigrants.
Katherine Cover
Book

Katherine

by Anya Seton

A biographical novel concerning the love affair between Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, in fourteenth-century England.
Emma Cover
Book

Emma

by Jane Austen

Emma, first published in 1816, was written when Jane Austen was at the height of her powers. In a novel remarkable for its sparkling wit and modernity, Austen presents readers with two of literature’s greatest comic creations—the eccentric Mr. Woodhouse and that quintessential bore, Miss Bates. Here, too, we have what may well be Jane Austen’s most profound characterization: the witty, imaginative, self-deluded Emma, a heroine the author declared “no one but myself will much like,” but who has been much loved by generations of readers. Delightfully funny, full of rich irony, Emma is regarded as one of Jane Austen’s finest achievements.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Cover
Book

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy

A heartbreaking portrayal of a woman faced by an impossible choice in the pursuit of happiness When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. With its sensitive depiction of the wronged Tess and powerful criticism of social convention, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, subtitled "A Pure Woman," is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy's novels. Based on the three-volume first edition that shocked readers when first published in 1891, this edition includes as appendices: Hardy's Prefaces, the Landscapes of Tess, episodes originally censored from the Graphic periodical version, and a selection of the Graphic illustrations. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Anna Karenina Cover
Book

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy

Considered by some to be the greatest novel ever written, Anna Karenina is Tolstoy's classic tale of love and adultery set against the backdrop of high society in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A rich and complex masterpiece, the novel charts the disastrous course of a love affair between Anna, a beautiful married woman, and Count Vronsky, a wealthy army officer. Tolstoy seamlessly weaves together the lives of dozens of characters, and in doing so captures a breathtaking tapestry of late-nineteenth-century Russian society. As Matthew Arnold wrote in his celebrated essay on Tolstoy, "We are not to take Anna Karenina as a work of art; we are to take it as a piece of life."
Madame Bovary Cover
Book

Madame Bovary

 

No summary available.
Mrs. Dalloway Cover
Book

Mrs. Dalloway

by Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway is the portrait of a single day in a woman's life.
Item Not Found
ID: 0451526333
(Type: books)
Lorna Doone Cover
Book

Lorna Doone

by R. D. Blackmore

First published in 1869, Lorna Doone is the story of John Ridd, a farmer who finds love amid the religious and social turmoil of seventeenth-century England. He is just a boy when his father is slain by the Doones, a lawless clan inhabiting wild Exmoor on the border of Somerset and Devon. Seized by curiosity and a sense of adventure, he makes his way to the valley of the Doones, where he is discovered by the beautiful Lorna. In time their childish fantasies blossom into mature love—a bond that will inspire John to rescue his beloved from the ravages of a stormy winter, rekindling a conflict with his archrival, Carver Doone, that climaxes in heartrending violence. Beloved for its portrait of star-crossed lovers and its surpassing descriptions of the English countryside, Lorna Doone is R. D. Blackmore’s enduring masterpiece. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Lolly Willowes Cover
Book

Lolly Willowes

by Sylvia Townsend Warner

The story of a middle-aged spinster who moves to a country village to escape her controlling relatives and takes up the practice of witchcraft.
Mildred Pierce Cover
Book

Mildred Pierce

 

No summary available.
Item Not Found
ID: 0140432620
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: B000ANCGDQ
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 2070366081
(Type: books)
Demelza Cover
Book

Demelza

by Winston Graham

Set in the closing years of the Napoleonic Wars, this novel is part of the Poldark saga. At the heart of the novel stand Demelza and Ross Poldark, their son, Jeremy, their daughter, Clowance, and the rival family, the Warleggans.
Item Not Found
ID: 0141441097
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0671042572
(Type: books)
Ramona Cover
Book

Ramona

 

No summary available.
Item Not Found
ID: 1558615075
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0192834789
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0192837389
(Type: books)
Item Not Found
ID: 0451529200
(Type: books)