Female friendship in literature offers an opportunity for us to understand and investigate the lived experiences of women around the world, and to see how women’s platonic, but nonetheless deeply intimate, relationships with one another can help to forge their sense of belonging and identity. The 10 books showcased here are famous for their nuanced portrayals of female friendship, and are sure to leave you reflecting on the women in your life who have shaped and supported your own journey of becoming.
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Book one in the pseudonymous Italian author’s stunning Neapolitan Quartet series, Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend follows the lifelong friendship of Elena and Lila — two girls living in a working-class neighbourhood in Naples in the 1950s. The series follows them from girlhood to present-day womanhood, with My Brilliant Friend mostly tracing the girls’ trajectory through school, and forcing us to recognize how the choices we make as children have a ripple effect across our futures.
The novel is told in the retrospective past tense, when a now elderly Elena learns that Lila has mysteriously disappeared. She thus begins recounting their shared history, hoping to unravel the secrets of their complex friendship. Marked with intellectual rivalry, romantic entanglements, social class constraints, and continually diverging paths, this is a poignant epic about the struggles of navigating female adolescence and adulthood, and therefore a must-read for anyone who loves books about female friendship. Sky Atlantic made a TV show adaptation of My Brilliant Friend (2018) for those who, like me, were not yet emotionally prepared to say goodbye to Elena and Lila after reading.
“We were twelve years old, but we walked along the hot streets of the neighborhood, amid the dust and flies that the occasional old trucks stirred up as they passed, like two old ladies taking the measure of lives of disappointment, clinging tightly to each other. No one understood us, only we two—I thought—understood one another.”
Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend
Conversation With Friends by Sally Rooney
From Sally Rooney, the best-selling author of Normal People, comes its equally outstanding predecessor, Conversation With Friends. This book centres around Frances, an Irish college student and aspiring writer, and her tumultuous relationship with her best friend and ex-girlfriend, Bobbi. At a spoken-word poetry event they are participating in, the pair meet Melissa, a successful writer, and her emotionally-elusive husband, Nick. As the characters’ lives begin to catastrophically intertwine, Frances begins an affair with Nick, while Melissa and Bobbi simultaneously cultivate a deep connection of their own.
This is a novel that deftly explores the struggle to authentically connect with others in a modern-day, urban setting where anyone’s motives can be criticized and subject to suspicion. The book has also been praised for its implicit portrayal of polyamory, and the difficulties of managing unconventional relationships in an unrelentingly homogenous social world. BBC adapted Conversation With Friends (2022) into a popular TV series after the unprecedented success and cultural impact of their Normal People (2020) adaptation. The show stars Alison Oliver, Joe Alwyn, and Jemima Kirke, and is definitely worth a watch — but only after you’ve read the book first, of course!
“Was I kind to others? It was hard to nail down an answer. I worried that if I did turn out to have a personality, it would be one of the unkind ones. Did I only worry about this question because as a woman I felt required to put the needs of others before my own? Was “kindness” just another term for submission in the face of conflict?”
Sally Rooney, Conversation With Friends
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood is the story of Elaine Risley, a highly successful painter who returns to her Toronto home town for a retrospective exhibition of her work and is forced to confront the ghosts of her past. Whilst wandering the streets, she remembers and reflects upon her traumatic experiences with a group of young girls, their mean ringleader Cordelia, most particularly. Cordelia is an extremely complex character, being both a tormentor and a confidante to our main character, and thus someone we read about with wariness as well as empathy.
The novel investigates themes of memory, friendship, betrayal, and the impact that traumatic childhood experiences can have on an individual’s life. The memories being revisited by Elaine in the novel are equally vivid, triggering, and painful — working to expose the hidden politics and cruelties of girlhood friendships. The writer here also explores the broader cultural context of 20th-century Canada; touching on art trends, social change, and Feminist movements, and having these factors reflected in her main character’s own artistic development and vision. No one quite writes the duality of female friendships quite like Atwood. The Robber Bride is also a great recommendation for fans of this thematic niche.
“Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.”
Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Ottessa Moshfegh’s psychological thriller Eileen is set in 1960s New England and centres titular main character Eileen Dunlop. Eileen is a young woman trapped in a dismally repetitive life and fuelled by self-loathing and misery. Working as a secretary in a juvenile correction facility, she is also burdened with caring for her alcoholic father and battling with her own twisted fantasies of escape.
Her mundane life takes a sudden turn when Rebecca Saint John, a glamorous new counselor at the detention centre, becomes her new colleague and binds Eileen in a parasitic, destructive friendship that culminates in an outrageous act of violence. Best known for her other novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Moshfegh puts her literary skill to the ultimate test by vibrantly capturing the warped, murderous mind of a woman kept under strict submission. Here she constructs an unreliable, and unlikeable, narrator that readers will be both shocked and impressed by in equal measure.
“A grown woman is like a coyote—she can get by on very little. Men are more like house cats. Leave them alone for too long and they’ll die of sadness.”
Ottessa Moshfegh, Eileen
Sula by Toni Morrison
Sula by Toni Morrison follows the story of two Black women, Sula Peace and Nel Wright. The novel details their intertwined lives from childhood to adulthood as they grow up together in the Black community in an otherwise wholly White-dominated Ohio, a place better known amongst its inhabitants as ‘The Bottom’. Nel and Sula feature as inseparable girlhood friends after bonding over a shared tragedy that touched both of their lives.
However, their paths begin to diverge as they grow older; Sula craves a life of independence, adventure, and freedom, stubbornly refusing to conform to societal expectations, and quickly opting to leave ‘The Bottom’ to explore the wider world by herself. When she returns years later as a changed woman, she finds that Nel’s journey of marriage and motherhood struggles to fit alongside her own values and priorities — threatening not merely their friendship, but also their own security in themselves. Toni Morrison here explores the complicated dynamics of an ever-evolving female friendship alongside themes of social norms, betrayal, and the impact of racism on individual and collective identities.
“She had been looking all along for a friend, and it took her a while to discover that a lover was not a comrade and could never be – for a woman. And that no one would ever be that version of herself which she sought to reach out to and touch with an ungloved hand.”
Toni Morrison, Sula
Swing Time by Zadie Smith
Swing Time by Zadie Smith follows the story of two mixed-race girls growing up in London as their lives intertwine and diverge. The unnamed narrator and her friend Tracey bond over their shared love and passion for dancing, although Tracey is undoubtedly imbued with more natural talent. As they begin to navigate adolescence and adulthood their friendship begins to fracture, with the narrator eventually working as the assistant to a pop star named Aimee. Meanwhile, Tracey pursues her career in dance.
The novel has been praised for its exploration of friendship, identity, race, class, as well as for its complex portrayal of success and ambition. Zadie Smith’s compelling narrative style, with her unique blend of humour and sadness makes for a deeply engaging and thought-provoking experience, and is therefore a book that I would strongly recommend.
“Truth was being revealed to me: that I had always tried to attach myself to the light of other people, that I had never had any light of my own. I experienced myself as a kind of shadow.”
Zadie Smith, Swing Time
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple centres a young African-American woman named Celie, living in early 20th-century rural Georgia. The novel follows the abuse and hardship she has been made to endure as a Black woman, and is emotively narrated through letters to God. In these letters, Celie details her abusive father, her forced marriage to a cruel Mister, as well as her separation from her beloved sister Nettie.
The novel deals closely with themes of racism, abuse, sisterhood, friendship, sexism, and self-discovery, all of which are reflected in Celie’s struggle to find independence, strength, and solace outside of patriarchal oppression. Walker’s powerful portrayal of the indomitable female spirit, along with the importance she places on women forging meaningful relationships with those who share the same struggles, making this an incredibly moving story that everyone should read if they have the chance.
“Why any woman give a **** what people think is a mystery to me.”
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
From the author that brought us the best-selling novel, The Kite Runner, comes Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns. This book tells the story of two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become intertwined due to the oppressive political climate of Afghanistan under the Taliban. After both women are made to marry the same man, Rahseed, they discover the comfort and hope made possible by female friendship.
The novel explores themes of resilience, sacrifice, love, and the enduring strength of the human spirit in the face of war and hardship. Hosseini’s works have been highly praised for their nuanced insight into Afghan history and culture; his soul-baring portrayal of life in Afghanistan and the empathy with which he handles the social, political, and personal effects of events on ordinary people (especially women) has culminated in him being endowed with the status of a Modern Classics writer.
“She remembered Nana saying once that each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the world. That all the sighs drifted up the sky, gathered into clouds, then broke into tiny pieces that fell silently on the people below. As a reminder of how people like us suffer, she’d said. How quietly we endure all that falls upon us.”
Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns
Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir by Dolly Alderton
Everything I Know About Love is a memoir by Dolly Alderton that seeks to reflect upon her experiences navigating romantic relationships, the pressures of career progression, and the positive impact that female friendships have had on her life. It is a humorous and relatable account of a woman’s search for a place in the world, where her most stable touchstones of identity and security can be found in her connections with other women.
The memoir, partly inspired by Dolly Alderton’s dating advice column in The Sunday Times Style, covers a range of themes — from dating mishaps, first heartbreaks, bad job experiences, and, ultimately, the process of learning to accept and love yourself for who you are. Everything I Know About Love (2022) was adapted into an amusing, and deeply resonant, comedy-drama series by the BBC, which is also definitely worth checking out. Dolly Alderton is the unapologetically millennial, real-life Bridget Jones Agony-Aunt that every young woman simply NEEDS to read.
“When you’re looking for love and it seems like you might not ever find it, remember you probably have access to an abundance of it already, just not the romantic kind. This kind of love might not kiss you in the rain or propose marriage. But it will listen to you, inspire and restore you. It will hold you when you cry, celebrate when you’re happy, and sing All Saints with you when you’re drunk. You have so much to gain and learn from this kind of love. You can carry it with you forever. Keep it as close to you as you can.”
Dolly Alderton, Everything I Know About Love
Bunny by Mona Awad
Bunny by Mona Awad follows a creative writing MFA student named Samantha Mackey. Upon enrolling at the prestigious Warren University, she finds herself initially repulsed by the freakish clique of overly-feminine girls she has as her fellow classmates. This group of girls call themselves ‘Bunnies’ and are soon shown to be involved with all manner of peculiar occult practices. When Samantha’s status as an outsider is overcome by her intense fascination for the clique’s secretive dealings, she finds herself initiated into their company, a choice which sends her down a spiral of loneliness, desire, and belonging.
The novel cleverly highlights the power of imagination, with Mona Awad purposefully blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy. This book has frequently been likened to Paramount Pictures’ Mean Girls (2004), namely due to its darkly satirical portrayal of forging female friendships in the modern world. The highly anticipated sequel to this book, We Love You, Bunny, is due to be released in the Autumn of 2025 — giving you more than enough time to grab your copy of the original book and give it a read. You definitely won’t regret it!
“She was a great girl-shaped forest. She was a thing on fire. Her hand was leaves and smoke and snow and flesh all at once.”
Mona Awad, Bunny
The books showcased here offer a variety of perspectives into female friendships, proving once again just how multifaceted and complex they can be. From borderline toxic girl cliques to companions we carry along with us our entire lives, our female friends offer us opportunities to experience a rich and colourful range of human emotion. When times get hard, they are the support networks that we often rely on the most to feel ourselves again.
Arguably the most beautiful thing about female friendship, as many of the novels here poignantly serve to remind us, is its ability to endure across different times and identities, and the loyalty with which they persist in spite of barriers that may be set against them. These novels are each wonderfully unique in their own ways, and truly have something to offer everyone. So what are you waiting for? Grab your books — and your trusty gal pals — and get reading!
Love this? Read our article: Why Female Friendships in Books Are So Important.
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