PEOPLE’s Women’s History Month reads book covers.
Get ready to celebrateWomen’s History Monthwith some powerful and entertaining historical reads.
Women’s History Month is a great opportunity to pick up some books that shed light on important female figures throughout history, learn a little more about women’s lives or simply discover a new favorite.
01of 20
Buy Now
02of 20
The Book of Longings.
This moving story follows Ana, a young woman born to a wealthy Galilee family who expects her to marry an elderly widower. When she meets a young Jesus (yes, that one) her life changes forever. As Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers and his mother Mary, her brother Judas is busy stirring up resistance to the Roman occupation of Israel. It’s a beautiful, vivid story.
03of 20
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.
The first “immortal” culture-grown human cells are still alive today and have been used to develop the polio vaccine and make strides in cancer research, but the woman from whom they were harvested without her knowledge was all but forgotten. That woman is named Henrietta Lacks, and this stunning book explores her story and her family’s in this stunning true medical mystery.
04of 20
In The Time of The Butterflies.
On November 25, 1960, the bodies of sisters Minerva, Patria and María Teresa are found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff in the Dominican Republic. Official reports rule it an accident, but those who knew them — and their surviving fourth sister, Dedé — know better. The sisters were known as Las Mariposas, or The Butterflies. This is the gripping account of the sisters' campaign against brutal dictator General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo.
05of 20
If all you know about dust bowl farmers during the Great Depression are a couple of iconic old photos, this novel based on a true story is a must-read. It follows the fictional Dunne family as they fight to survive in the Oklahoma Panhandle, sharing a cramped dugout and subsisting on little food and dreams for the future.
06of 20
The Neapolitan Novels.
Stories about platonic relationships often take a backseat to tales of romantic love, but the bond between friends can be as strong and unbreakable as a marriage. This boxed set is an epic exploration of two women’s long friendship, and it’s a modern classic in the making.
07of 20
Giving Up the Ghost.
“The story of my own childhood is a complicated sentence that I am always trying to finish, to finish and put behind me,”writes Mantel. The prize-winning author fell ill when she was 19 and endured years of misdiagnoses, misguided treatment and devastating surgery that left her infertile. This seminal memoir is widely regarded as one of the best out there, for good reason.
08of 20
Circe.
09of 20
Pride and Prejudice.
A slew of adaptations of this 1813 classic have hit shelves over recent years, but nothing beats the original. If you haven’t sunk your teeth into what well may be the original story about marrying for love instead of money, there’s no time like the present.
10of 20
Ahab’s Wife or The Star-Gazer.
11of 20
Bright Young Women.
12of 20
The Women.
Hannah again shines her light on overlooked women in history, this time the Army Nurse Corps who served in Vietnam. “Good girl” Frances “Frankie” McGrath follows her brother into war and finds confidence and purpose as a surgical nurse. (Her parents are less evolved, with her military father withholding a place for her on his Wall of Heroes.) The book is at its best when it focuses on the nurses in the evac hospital but doesn’t skirt the issues that plague military homecomings.
13of 20
All that She Carried.
Historian Miles traces the lives of an enslaved woman named Rose and her daughter Ashley, partly based on a cotton sack the mother gave to her daughter and Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth later embroidered with their story. Hinging the story on scant archival records, everyday objects, art and the resourcefulness of family members to hold their own legacy where the official historical record falls short, it’s a poignant, brilliant account.
14of 20
Marie Antoinette.
If your knowledge of Marie Antoinette starts and ends with “let them eat cake,” dig into this dramatic tale of how a young girl from Vienna ended up the wife of Louis XVI and later, sent to the guillotine. Perfect for fans of regency dramas (Bridgerton, anyone?), it paints a complex portrait of the French queen.
15of 20
Year of Wonders.
This plague novel has taken on new significance since it first came out in 2001, but it remains spellbinding. Set over one year in an isolated 17th century English village, inhabitants turn from prayer to witch-hunting as their society all but crumbles. If that sounds a little too familiar, read on for the love story that binds it all together.
16of 20
Master Slave Husband Wife.
In 1848, a young enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, posed as master and slave to pull off one of the most brazen feats of self-emancipation on record. Dodging slave traders, the military and Americans acting under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, this is an amazing story of enduring love and three epic journeys toward freedom.
17of 20
Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Some novels defy description, and this is one. Zadie Smith calls it “one of the very greatest American novels of the 20th century. It is so lyrical it should be sentimental; it is so passionate it should be overwrought, but it is instead a rigorous, convincing and dazzling piece of prose, as emotionally satisfying as it is impressive. There is no novel I love more.”
18of 20
Carrie Soto is Back.
By the time Carrie Soto retires from tennis, she’s sacrificed almost everything to become the best player in the world. So six years later, when she watches from the stands of the 1994 U.S. Open as Nicki Chan shatters her record, it stings badly enough to force her out of retirement. An emotional, richly-painted novel that hews close to life, it’s about what being a strong, independent woman really means — and what it doesn’t.
19of 20
Never Caught.
When George Washington was elected president, he left his beloved Mount Vernon for Philadelphia, the nation’s capital at the time. He brought with him eight enslaved people, including Ona Judge. In Pennsylvania, enslaved people had to be freed after six months of residency in the state. To circumvent the law, Washington sent Judge back South every six months instead to restart the clock. When the 22-year-old saw her chance at freedom, it set off an intense manhunt. This account of a woman history often forgets is a must-read for American history fans.
20of 20
H is for Hawk.
After her father’s death, Macdonald adopts a goshawk named Mabel, whose fierce temperament often reflects the author’s own grief. It’s a gorgeous memoir of loss and love, grief and moving through it and the pain of living that’s essential reading for anyone dealing with loss.
source: people.com
