Women in Fiction on International Women’s Day

Women in Fiction on International Women’s Day

This International Women’s Day, why not celebrate the fictional women who have appeared in novels? The ones on this list are particularly inspiring as they were closely inspired by real women who made their mark in history.

I have discovered some remarkable women recently – in novels of fiction – but ones who are very much inspired by or based on real women.

Take these for example:

Madwoman paperback cover

New York

Nelly Blyth – featured in Madwomen by Louisa Treger

Inspired by the real life Nellie Bly – the world’s first female investigative journalist who got herself incarcerated in an asylum to be able to write about the conditions within. She is also a personal hero of mine as she travelled on a very similar journey to Phileas Fogg to see if his journey of around the world in 80 days could be beaten. My inspiration!

CAMBRIDGE

Rosalind Franklin who features in ROSALIND

The woman who made a breakthrough in the study of DNA.

One woman did the work. Three men took the glory. A shocking novel to show just how jealous her male colleagues were but it also shows just how brilliant and strong she was.

Brilliant woman and book!

LONDON

Estella from Estella’s Revenge 

Now this woman is fictional but what a woman she is! Barbara Havelocke has brought her back to life from the novel by Charles Dickens. She of course features in the novel Great Expectations. Now, she comes out of the shadows, out from the faded skirts of Miss Havisham to really show her true self.

And what a true self she is! Imaginative and utterly compelling this book – out in May!

BATH – Peggy and Molly Gainsborough as featured in The Painter’s Daughters

The daughters of the famous painter.

They spy on their father as he paints and are inseparable. There is a poignant reason behind their closeness: from a young age, Molly has had a tendency to forget who she is, to fall into mental confusion, and Peggy knows instinctively that no one must find out.

GREECE

Maria Callas as featured in DIVA

A woman with a voice and a story to tell.

She was once the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. Yet her fame had been hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her, Maria learned early in life how to protect herself.

Then she became known in the  media as a diva based on her so called temperamental behaviour, the alleged Callas-Tebaldi rivalry, and her love affair with Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

Diva means La Divina (“The Divine One”).

And then there are these seven women:

The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley

There are seven books in this series about seven remarkable women.

From Lucinda’s website:

“When I first had the idea of writing a series of books based on The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades, I had no idea where it would lead me. I was very attracted to the fact that each one of the mythological sisters was, according to their legends, a unique and strong female. Some say they were the Seven Mothers who seeded our earth – there is no doubt that, in their stories, they were all highly fertile! – and had many children with the various Gods who were fascinated by their strength, beauty and ethereal air of mysticism.

I wanted to celebrate the achievements of women, especially in the past, where so often, their contribution to making our world the place it is today has been overshadowed by the more frequently documented achievements of men.”

And with that… happy International Women’s Day!