Women’s history is filled with endless stories of resilience, strength, and groundbreaking achievements that have shaped our world today. From suffrage to civil rights, nonfiction books offer a powerful way to illustrate these events and the remarkable women behind them, ensuring their names will never be forgotten.
We’ve curated a list of incredible novels that bring women’s history to life, spotlighting the voices that have been too often overlooked and underappreciated.
The Confidante by Christopher C. Gorham
This novel tells the untold story of Anna Marie Rosenberg and her significant impact on helping the U.S. win World War II. A Hungarian Jewish immigrant, Rosenburg influenced the G.I. Bill and Manhattan Project, as well as becoming one of the first Allied women to witness a liberated concentration camp. Later in her life, she was appointed as the assistant secretary of defense, which is the highest position ever held by a woman in the U.S. military. In this revolutionary story, The Confidante shares her history and shines a light on her importance, which history has sought to hide because of her identity.
A House in the Mountains by Caroline Moorehead
A powerful but forgotten true story of the four influential women who fought against Italy’s fascist government during World War II. When Italy broke with the Germans and suffered immense military losses, Ada, Frida, Bianca, and Silvia lived secretly in the mountains and risked their lives to overthrow their authoritarian government. Thousands of Italians joined the Allies to help free their country from German invaders, and what made this fight most notable was the mention that many women were involved, sacrificing their lives for the resistance. The civil war revealed the best and worst in Italian society, but also kept relatively hidden from the brave women of the Italian partisan movement who fought for freedom against fascism.
The Exceptions by Kate Zernike
For as long as we can remember in history, it was considered abnormal for women to be involved in science, let alone to be successful in it. Regarding this, The Exceptions note that women were usually expected to pursue a career for only 10 years before settling down to start a family; however, a young woman, Nancy Hopkins, decided to dedicate her life to the study of genetics.
Fast forward to 1999, Hopkins, now a molecular geneticist and cancer researcher at MIT, realized she was underpaid and denied credit and resources typically given to men, even those of a lower rank than her. Driven by this unfairness, she leads a group of sixteen women on the faculty in a campaign to ensure women in the industry are no longer discriminated against. This spectacular novel tells the story of Hopkins and the sixteen women’s impact in advancing women’s empowerment and tackling sexism in science.
Vanguard by Martha S. Jones
This outstanding novel depicts the influential Black women who fought for equality and the right to vote. Martha S. Jones offers a different outlook on African American history by illustrating how Black women have confronted both racism and sexism to write on the ballots and, additionally, how they helped secure political equality for all citizens; at the time, no woman had the right to vote. Jones highlights the important women involved in the vanguard, including Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Fannie Lou Hamer, to accentuate their impact on American democracy.
In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet
In the film and media industry, we tend to associate witches as the most wicked of all, and always having cruel or snarky tricks up their sleeves. But what about the real women in history who were accused of being witches and therefore killed? In this impeccable novel, Mona Chollet represents these women and shares their stories, noting three types of women accused of witchcraft: the independent woman, the childless woman, and the elderly woman.
Examining the three types of women who were often accused can show how society at the time viewed them as easier targets. Chollet does justice to their story to be heard, but also presents how women, to this day, continue to be harassed and oppressed. By combining history and modern issues, In Defense of Witches shares the persecution of witches, how it is an example of society’s misogyny, and how women today are direct descendants of the ones who were hunted down and killed.
This is only the beginning of the vast number of women who have contributed greatly to society, but remain unheard. It is important to learn as much as we can about the untold voices and remember their names, for they are greatly part of the reason why women live today.
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