Six picks that show women have always been part of the story
It’s Women’s History Month and we're recommending six great titles that highlight the roles of women throughout history. Whether fiction or nonfiction, these picks are well-researched looks into the past.
Fiction
When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin
Yin’s debut follows three women through the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. Pushed from comfort to various levels of insecurity, each finds a way to support the Resistance, reinforcing the idea that “ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things.” Readers of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko or the works of Eve J. Chung or Julie Otsuka should take note.
Where the False Gods Dwell by Denny S. Bryce
Denny S. Bryce’s latest historical novel is inspired by the real-life legendary choreographer and anthropologist Katherine Dunham (whose work inspired a young Alvin Ailey). It imagines the experiences of three women who accompany Dunham on her expedition in 1935 to the village of Accompong in Jamaica to explore Caribbean dance culture placing them in the path of the deadly Jérémie hurricane. Fans of Rita Wood, Tiffany L. Warren, and ReShonda Tate should check this out.
Adult Nonfiction
Cosmic Music: The Life, Art, and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane by Andy Beta
While Alice Coltrane (Swamini A.C. Turiyasangitananda) is best-known as the widow of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, this first-of-its-kind biography focuses on her life, faith, and work as a visionary, pioneering, and deeply influential musician, from her childhood in Detroit playing the organ and piano in church choirs through her mid-life spiritual transformation.
Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress by Lorissa Rinehart
Historian and podcast host Rinehart tells the incredible story of the life Jeannette Rankin, the trailblazing social worker, suffragist, and multi-cause activist from Montana who served as the first woman to be elected to federal office as a member of Congress in 1917 and went on to serve a second term in 1941.
Children and Teens
Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights by Lindsay H. Metcalf
In this fictionalized verse novel for teens, Eunice Newton Foote is noted as the first scientist to publish research on greenhouse gases. Born in 1819 to a science-minded family, Metcalf deftly highlights Foote’s privileged access to education, her patented inventions via her husband, and her interests in women’s suffrage. Students of gender bias in the 1800s should pick this up.
Twice Enslaved: Liberty and Justice for Henrietta Wood by Selene Castrovilla
In this historical account of Henrietta Wood, an enslaved Black woman born around 1820, her path to emancipation and then re-enslavement is depicted by way of narrative poetry. Amazingly in 1878 Wood eventually won an unprecedented $2,500 in reparations by suing the man who criminally re-enslaved her. Kid readers interested in tenacious women and Juneteenth history will appreciate this one.
More Women's History Month Picks