Best Books for Women
Curated book picks for women — empowering reads across fiction and nonfiction.
Recommended for Women
Women Who Run with the Wolves
by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species. Though the gifts of wildish nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to "civilize" us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled the deep, life-giving messages of our own souls. Without Wild Woman, we become over-domesticated, fearful, uncreative, trapped. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Jungian analyst and cantadora storyteller, shows how woman's vitality can be restored through what she calls "psychic archeological digs" into the ruins of the female unconscious. In Women Who Run with the Wolves, Dr. Estes uses multicultural myths, fairy tales, folk tales, and stories chosen from over twenty years of research that help women reconnect with the healthy, instinctual, visionary attributes of the Wild Woman archetype. Dr. Estes collects the bones of many stories, looking for the archetypal motifs that set a woman's inner life into motion. In Women Who Run with the Wolves, Dr. Estes has created a lexicon for describing the female psyche. Fertile and life-giving, it s a psychology of women in the truest sense, a knowing of the soul.
The Silence of the Girls
by Pat Barker
"From the Booker Prize-winning author of the Regeneration trilogy comes a monumental new masterpiece, set in the midst of literature's most famous war. Pat Barker turns her attention to the timeless legend of The Iliad, as experienced by the captured women living in the Greek camp in the final weeks of the Trojan War. The ancient city of Troy has withstood a decade under siege of the powerful Greek army, who continue to wage bloody war over a stolen woman--Helen. In the Greek camp, another woman watches and waits for the war's outcome: Briseis. She was queen of one of Troy's neighboring kingdoms, until Achilles, Greece's greatest warrior, sacked her city and murdered her husband and brothers. Briseis becomes Achilles's concubine, a prize of battle, and must adjust quickly in order to survive a radically different life, as one of the many conquered women who serve the Greek army. When Agamemnon, the brutal political leader of the Greek forces, demands Briseis for himself, she finds herself caught between the two most powerful of the Greeks. Achilles refuses to fight in protest, and the Greeks begin to lose ground to their Trojan opponents. Keenly observant and cooly unflinching about the daily horrors of war, Briseis finds herself in an unprecedented position to observe the two men driving the Greek forces in what will become their final confrontation, deciding the fate, not only of Briseis's people, but also of the ancient world at large. Briseis is just one among thousands of women living behind the scenes in this war--the slaves and prostitutes, the nurses, the women who lay out the dead--all of them erased by history. With breathtaking historical detail and luminous prose, Pat Barker brings the teeming world of the Greek camp to vivid life. She offers nuanced, complex portraits of characters and stories familiar from mythology, which, seen from Briseis's perspective, are rife with newfound revelations. Barker's latest builds on her decades-long study of war and its impact on individual lives--and it is nothing short of magnificent"--
Ariadne
by Jennifer Saint
<p><b>**The mesmerising retelling from the woman at the heart of one of Ancient Greece's most famous myths.**</b><br> <br> <b>'I absolutely adored this book and am encouraging everyone I know to buy a copy.'</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW<br> <br> <b>'The last few pages will easily become tear soaked. I loved every minute of this book'</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ READER REVIEW<br> <br> <b>'A lyrical, insightful re-telling' - <i>Daily Mail</i><br> <br></b><b>'If you like Madeline Miller's <i>Circe</i> and <i>Song of Achilles</i>, you will eat up <i>Ariadne</i> [. . .] Saint makes it a page-turner' - <i>Glamour</i></b><br> <br> <b>'Exquisitely written and exceptionally moving, this is a mythical retelling to savour.' - Elodie Harper, author of THE WOLF DEN</b><br> <br> <b>'ARIADNE gives voice to the misused Princess of Crete who betrayed her father to save Theseus from the Minotaur. Relevant and revelatory.' - <i>Stylist</i></b><br> <br> Ariadne, Princess of Crete and daughter of the fearsome King Minos, grows up hearing stories of gods and heroes. But beneath the golden palace something else stirs, the hoofbeats and bellows echoing from the Labyrinth below. Every year its captive, the Minotaur - Ariadne's brother - demands blood.<br> <br> When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne sees in him her chance to escape. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that drawing the attention of the mercurial gods may cost her everything.<br> <br> In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne's decision to risk everything for love ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover's ambition?<br> <b><br> ARIADNE gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this exceptional debut novel is</b> <b>perfect for fans of CIRCE, A SONG OF ACHILLES, and THE SILENCE OF THE GIRLS.</b><br> <br> <b>'With her wonderfully executed debut that reimagines the classic tale of Theseus, Adriane and the Minotaur, Jennifer Saint joins the likes of Madeline Miller and Pat Barker in forging mesmerising retellings of ancient Greek myths from a female perspective.' - <i>Waterstones.com</i></b><br> <br> <b>'Saint's immersive novel thrusts the reader straight into the heart of Greek mythology with this wonderful reimagining of the story of Ariadne.' - <i>iPaper</i></b><br> <br> <b>'What happens after the monster is defeated and the princess leaves with the hero? Jennifer Saint's ARIADNE is a shimmering tapestry of two sisters bound by deceit and the shadows of family history. . .With a fresh voice and keen insight, Saint adds flesh and bone to an ancient myth, drawing the reader into an uneasy world of ever-afters.' - Yangsze Choo, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of THE NIGHT TIGER</b><br> <br> <b>WHAT THE READERS ARE SAYING...</b><br> <br> <b>'Stunning writing, fabulous storytelling and surprisingly real characters who you could empathise with'</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐<br> <br> <b>'This is an essential book in the new and rising volume of retelling from the women's point of view - so revealing and questioning. The ending 5 pages of this book killed me.'</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐<br> <br> <b>'So real, so matter of fact, like a good chat on a girls' night out.'</b> ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐</p>
The Curse of Chalion
by Lois McMaster Bujold
<p>A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril has returned to the noble household he once served as page, and is named, to his great surprise, secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule. It is as assignment Cazaril dreads, for it must ultimately lead him to the place he most fears: the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies who once placed him in chains now occupy lofty positions. but it is more than the traitorous intrigues of villains that threaten Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle here, for a sinister curse hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion and all who stand in their circle. And only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge -- an act that will mark the loyal, damaged servant as a tool of the miraculous ... and trap him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death.</p>
The Great Alone
by Kristin Hannah
It is 1974 when Leni Allbright's impulsive father Ernt decides the family is moving to Alaska. But the Alaskan winter is just as unforgiving as Ernt, and life quickly becomes a struggle for survival.
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro explores what it means to have a soul and how art distinguishes man from other life forms. But above all, *Never Let Me Go* is a study of friendship and the bonds we form which make or break while we come of age.
Yes Please
by Amy Poehler
Part memoir, part 'missive-from-the-middle', Yes Please is a hilarious collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, haikus and words-to-live-by drawn from the life and mind of acclaimed actress, writer and comedian Amy Poehler.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
by Neil Gaiman
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what. A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
The Sun and Her Flowers
by Rupi Kaur
From rupi kaur, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey, comes her long-awaited second collection of poetry. A vibrant and transcendent journey about growth and healing. Ancestry and honoring one’s roots. Expatriation and rising up to find a home within yourself. Divided into five chapters and illustrated by kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms. this is the recipe of life said my mother as she held me in her arms as i wept think of those flowers you plant in the garden each year they will teach you that people too must wilt fall root rise in order to bloom
Milk and Honey
by Rupi Kaur
The book is divided into four chapters, each chapter serves a different purpose. They deal with different pains; heal different heartaches. Milk and honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them, because there is sweetness everywhere If you are just willing to look.
Final Girls
by Riley Sager
Ten years ago, six friends went on vacation. One made it out alive…. In that instant, college student Quincy Carpenter became a member of a very exclusive club—a group of survivors the press dubbed “The Final Girls”: Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who endured the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape the massacre at Pine Cottage. Despite the media's attempts, the three girls have never met. Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life. Her mind won’t let her recall the events of that night; the past is in the past… until the first Final Girl is found dead in her bathtub and the second Final Girl appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a hurricane, Sam seems intent on making her relive the trauma of her ordeal. When disturbing details about Lisa's death emerge, Quincy desperately tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies while evading both the police and bloodthirsty reporters. Quincy knows that in order to survive she has to remember what really happened at Pine Cottage. Because the only thing worse than being a Final Girl is being a dead one.
How to Be a Woman
by Caitlin Moran
Though they have the vote and the Pill and haven't been burned as witches since 1727, life isn't exactly a stroll down the catwalk for modern women. They are beset by uncertainties and questions: Why are they supposed to get Brazilians? Why do bras hurt? Why the incessant talk about babies? And do men secretly hate them? Caitlin Moran interweaves provocative observations on women's lives with laugh-out-loud funny scenes from her own, from the riot of adolescence to her development as a writer, wife, and mother. With rapier wit, Moran slices right to the truth—whether it's about the workplace, strip clubs, love, fat, abortion, popular entertainment, or children—to jump-start a new conversation about feminism. With humor, insight, and verve, How To Be a Woman lays bare the reasons female rights and empowerment are essential issues not only for women today but also for society itself.
The Hours
by Michael Cunningham
A daring, deeply affecting third novel by the author of A Home at the End of the World and Flesh and Blood. In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Richard, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family. Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice Or On the Segregation of the Queen
by Laurie R. King
<p><b>An Agatha Award Best Novel Nominee</b></p><p><b>Named One of the Century's Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent </b></p><p><b>Mystery Booksellers Association</b></p><p>From <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Laurie R. King comes the book that introduced us to the ingenious Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mysteries, <i>The Beekeeper's Apprentice</i>.</p><p>In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees when a young woman literally stumbles into him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes--and match him wit for wit. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern twentieth-century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective. In their first case together, they must track down a kidnapped American senator's daughter and confront a truly cunning adversary--a bomber who has set trip wires for the sleuths and who will stop at nothing to end their partnership. Full of brilliant deductions, disguises, and dangers, this first book of the Mary Russell--Sherlock Holmes mysteries is "wonderfully original and entertaining . . . absorbing from beginning to end" (<i>Booklist</i>).</p>
It Ends with Us A Novel
by Colleen Hoover
<b>NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING BLAKE LIVELY AND JUSTIN BALDONI! </b><br> <br> <b><b><b>From the #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>It Starts with Us </i>and <i>All Your Perfects</i>, a “brave and heartbreaking novel that digs its claws into you and doesn’t let go, long after you’ve finished it” (Anna Todd, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author) about a young woman in a new relationship who can’t stop thinking about her first love.</b></b></b><br><br>Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.<br> <br>Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.<br> <br>As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.<br> <br>An honest, evocative, and tender novel, <i>It Ends with Us</i> is “a glorious and touching read, a forever keeper. The kind of book that gets handed down” (<i>USA TODAY</i>).
Educated A Memoir
by Tara Westover
<b>#1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL,</i> AND <i>BOSTON GLOBE</i> BESTSELLER • One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University</b><br><br><b>“Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.”—<i>The New York Times</i></b><br><br><b>NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY <i>THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW</i> • ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • A <i>KIRKUS REVIEWS </i>BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award • <i>Los Angeles Times</i> Book Prize</b><br><br>Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.<br><br><b>“Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love? And how much must we betray them to grow up?”—<i>Vogue</i></b><br><b><br>ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: <i>The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time,</i> NPR, <i>Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times</i>,<i> Newsday, New York Post, theSkimm, Refinery29, Bloomberg, Self, Real Simple, Town & Country, Bustle, Paste, Publishers Weekly</i>,<i> Library Journal, LibraryReads, Book Riot,</i> Pamela Paul, KQED, New York Public Library</b>
Lean In Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
by Sheryl Sandberg
<p><b>#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A landmark manifesto" (<i>The New York Times</i>) that's a revelatory, inspiring call to action and a blueprint for individual growth that will empower women around the world to achieve their full potential. <br></b><br>In her famed TED talk, Sheryl Sandberg described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which has been viewed more than eleven million times, encouraged women to “sit at the table,” seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto. <i>Lean In</i> continues that conversation<i>,</i> combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can. Sandberg, COO of Meta (previously called Facebook) from 2008-2022, provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career. She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home. <br><br><br></p>
People We Meet on Vacation
by Emily Henry
<b>From the #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Funny Story </i>comes a sparkling novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.</b><br><b><br></b><i>Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.<br></i><br>Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. <br><br>Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since. <br><br>Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees. <br><br>Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Where the Crawdads Sing: Reese's Book Club
by Delia Owens
<b>#1 <i>NEW YORK TIMES </i>BESTSELLING PHENOMENON—NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!<br>More than 18 million copies sold worldwide<br>A Reese’s Book Club Pick<br>A <i>Business Insider</i> Defining Book of the Decade <br><br>“I can't even express how much I love this book! I didn't want this story to end!”—Reese Witherspoon<br><br><b>“</b>Painfully beautiful.<b>”—</b><i>The New York Times Book Review<br></i><br></b>For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.<br><br><i>Where the Crawdads Sing</i> is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
by Alexander McCall Smith
<b>NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and its proprietor, Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s premier lady detective. In this charming series, Mma Ramotswe—with help from her loyal associate, Grace Makutsi—navigates her cases and her personal life with wisdom, good humor, and the occasional cup of tea.</b><br><br>This first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witchdoctors.<br><br><b>The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency</b> received two Booker Judges’ Special Recommendations and was voted one of the International Books of the Year and the Millennium by the <i>Times Literary Supplement</i>.
Book Picks for Women
Get curated reading recommendations for women delivered weekly.
No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Get Personalized Recommendations
Discover your next great read with AI-powered recommendations in the BookMatcher app.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best books for women?
Our curated list features top book picks for women across fiction and nonfiction. Popular picks include "Women Who Run with the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
How do I choose the right book?
Take our free 60-second Book Match Quiz for AI-powered recommendations personalized to your mood and preferences, or browse our curated lists by genre.
Can I get personalized recommendations?
Yes! BookMatcher offers personalized AI recommendations through our quiz and the BookMatcher app. Download the app for unlimited recommendations tailored to your reading taste.
More Recommendations
Books for Kids
Wonderful books for children that spark imagination, learnin
Books for Teens
Age-appropriate, engaging reads perfect for teenage readers
Books for Men
Top book picks for men — from action-packed thrillers to tho
Best Fantasy Books
Epic worlds, magical systems, and extraordinary adventures t
Best Mystery Books
Gripping whodunits, detective stories, and puzzling cases th
Best Thriller Books
Heart-pounding suspense, high-stakes action, and nail-biting
Take the Book Match Quiz
Personalized recommendations in 60 seconds
As an Amazon Associate, BookMatcher earns from qualifying purchases. Book recommendations are independently curated by our AI and editorial team.