Books with category Women’s Fiction
Displaying 23 books

When Never Comes

2018

by Barbara Davis

Author Barbara Davis deftly explores an emotionally charged landscape of pain, loss, and despair—and the risk one woman will take in the hope of loving again.

As a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred. For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow—until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night.

When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again. Desperate for answers, she’s shattered to learn that Stephen and his mistress had a child—a little girl named Iris, who now lives in poverty with her ailing great-grandmother. The thought of Iris abandoned to the foster care system—as Christy-Lynn once was—is unbearable. But she’s spent her whole life running—determined never to be hurt again.

Will she finally stand still long enough to open herself up to forgiveness and love?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation

From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman’s efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes.

Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva.

It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be.

Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.

The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls

2017

by Emilie Autumn

Two young women, living centuries apart, both accused of madness, communicate across time to fight a common enemy... their doctors.

"It was the dog who found me." Such is the stark confession launching the harrowing scene that begins The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls as Emilie Autumn, a young musician on the verge of a bright career, attempts suicide by overdosing on the antipsychotics prescribed to treat her bipolar disorder. Upon being discovered, Emilie is revived and immediately incarcerated in a maximum-security psych ward, despite her protestations that she is not crazy, and can provide valid reasons for her actions if someone would only listen.

Treated as a criminal, heavily medicated, and stripped of all freedoms, Emilie is denied communication with the outside world, and falls prey to the unwelcome attentions of Dr. Sharp, head of the hospital's psychiatry department. As Dr. Sharp grows more predatory by the day, Emilie begins a secret diary to document her terrifying experience, and to maintain her sanity in this environment that could surely drive anyone mad. But when Emilie opens her notebook to find a desperate letter from a young woman imprisoned within an insane asylum in Victorian England, and bearing her own name and description, a portal to another world is blasted wide open.

As these letters from the past continue to appear, Emilie escapes further into this mysterious alternate reality where sisterhoods are formed, romance between female inmates blossoms, striped wallpaper writhes with ghosts, and highly intellectual rats speak the Queen's English.

But is it real? Or is Emilie truly as mad as she is constantly told she is? The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls blurs harsh reality and magical historical fantasy whilst issuing a scathing critique of society's treatment of women and the mental health care industry's treatment of its patients, showing in the process that little has changed throughout the ages.

Welcome to the Asylum. Are you committed?

Never Let You Go

2017

by Chevy Stevens

Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter, leaving behind an abusive relationship. Her ex-husband, Andrew, was sent to jail, and Lindsey started over with a new life.

Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with her own business and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. However, when Andrew is finally released from prison, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties and left the past behind her.

But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move. Her new boyfriend is threatened, her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it's her ex-husband, even though he claims he's a different person now.

But has he really changed? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought?

With Never Let You Go, Chevy Stevens delivers a chilling, twisting thriller that crackles with suspense as it explores the darkest heart of love and obsession.

Alice I Have Been

Few works of literature are as universally beloved as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, in this spellbinding historical novel, we meet the young girl whose bright spirit sent her on an unforgettable trip down the rabbit hole–and the grown woman whose story is no less enthralling.

But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful?

Alice Liddell Hargreaves’s life has been a richly woven tapestry: As a young woman, wife, mother, and widow, she’s experienced intense passion, great privilege, and greater tragedy. But as she nears her eighty-first birthday, she knows that, to the world around her, she is and will always be only “Alice.” Her life was permanently dog-eared at one fateful moment in her tenth year–the golden summer day she urged a grown-up friend to write down one of his fanciful stories.

That story, a wild tale of rabbits, queens, and a precocious young child, becomes a sensation the world over. Its author, a shy, stuttering Oxford professor, does more than immortalize Alice–he changes her life forever. But even he cannot stop time, as much as he might like to. And as Alice’s childhood slips away, a peacetime of glittering balls and royal romances gives way to the urgent tide of war.

For Alice, the stakes could not be higher, for she is the mother of three grown sons, soldiers all. Yet even as she stands to lose everything she treasures, one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey.

A love story and a literary mystery, Alice I Have Been brilliantly blends fact and fiction to capture the passionate spirit of a woman who was truly worthy of her fictional alter ego, in a world as captivating as the Wonderland only she could inspire.

The Apothecary's Daughter

2009

by Julie Klassen

Lilly Haswell remembers everything — whether she wants to, or not... As Lilly toils in her father's apothecary shop, preparing herbs and remedies by rote, she is haunted by memories of her mother's disappearance. Villagers whisper the tale, but her father refuses to discuss it. All the while, she dreams of the world beyond — of travel, adventure, and romance.

When a relative offers to host her in London, Lilly discovers the pleasures and pitfalls of fashionable society and suitors, as well as clues about her mother. But will Lilly find what she is searching for — the truth of the past and a love for the future?

Lillian Haswell, brilliant daughter of the local apothecary, yearns for more adventure and experience than life in her father's shop and their small village provides. Opportunity comes when a distant aunt offers to educate her as a lady in London. Exposed to fashionable society and romance—as well as clues about her mother—Lilly is torn when she is summoned back to her ailing father's bedside. Women are forbidden to work as apothecaries, so to save the family legacy, Lilly will have to make it appear as if her father is still making all the diagnoses and decisions. But the suspicious eyes of a scholarly physician and a competing apothecary are upon her. As they vie for village prominence, three men also vie for Lilly's heart.

American Wife

On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband's presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House—and the repercussions of a life lived, as she puts it, “almost in opposition to itself.”

A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice learned the virtues of politeness early on from her stolid parents and small Wisconsin hometown. But a tragic accident when she was seventeen shattered her identity and made her understand the fragility of life and the tenuousness of luck.

So more than a decade later, when she meets boisterous, charismatic Charlie Blackwell, she hardly gives him a second look: She is serious and thoughtful, and he would rather crack a joke than offer a real insight. He is the wealthy son of a bastion family of the Republican party, and she is a school librarian and registered Democrat. Comfortable in her quiet and unassuming life, she feels inured to his charms. And then, much to her surprise, Alice falls for Charlie.

As Alice learns to make her way amid the clannish energy and smug confidence of the Blackwell family, navigating the strange rituals of their country club and summer estate, she remains uneasy with her newfound good fortune. And when Charlie eventually becomes President, Alice is thrust into a position she did not seek—one of power and influence, privilege and responsibility.

As Charlie’s tumultuous and controversial second term in the White House wears on, Alice must face contradictions years in the making: How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do when her private beliefs run against her public persona?

In Alice Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is a gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and the exigencies of fate into a brilliant tapestry—a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.

The Warrior's Path

In Book I of the trilogy, Tamras arrives in Merin's house to begin her apprenticeship as a warrior, but her small stature causes many, including Tamras herself, to doubt that she will ever become a competent swordswoman. To make matters worse, the Lady Merin assigns her the position of companion, little more than a personal servant, to a woman who came to Merin's house, seemingly out of nowhere, the previous winter, and this stranger wants nothing to do with Tamras.

When she was a child, the author of When Women Were Warriors happily identified with all the male heroes she read about in stories that began, "Once upon a time, a young man went out to seek his fortune." But she would have been delighted to discover even one story like that with a female protagonist. Since she never did find the story she was looking for all those years ago, she decided to write it.

A Passion Redeemed

2008

by Julie Lessman

Graced with physical beauty, though shallow of heart, Charity O'Connor is a woman who knows what she wants. She sets her sights on the cantankerous Mitch Dennehy, editor at the Irish Times, who has unwittingly stolen her heart. And although the sparks are there, Mitch refuses to fan the coals of a potential relationship with his ex-fiancee's sister.

But Charity has a plan to turn up the heat and she always gets what she wants--one way or another. Is revenge so sweet after all? Or will Charity get burned?

Full of intense passion, betrayal, and forgiveness, A Passion Redeemed will delight Lessman's fans and draw new ones.

Me and Mr. Darcy

Dreams come true in this hilarious, feel-good fairy tale about life, love, and dating literature’s most eligible bachelor!

After a string of disastrous dates, Emily Albright decides she’s had it with modern-day love and would much rather curl up with Pride and Prejudice and spend her time with Mr. Darcy, the dashing, honorable, and passionate hero of Jane Austen’s classic. So when her best friend suggests a wild week of margaritas and men in Mexico with the girls, Emily abruptly flees to England on a guided tour of Jane Austen country instead.

Far from inspiring romance, the company aboard the bus consists of a gaggle of little old ladies and one single man, Spike Hargreaves, a foul-tempered journalist writing an article on why the fictional Mr. Darcy has earned the title of Man Most Women Would Love to Date.

The last thing Emily expects to find on her excursion is a broodingly handsome man striding across a field, his damp shirt clinging to his chest. But that’s exactly what happens when she comes face-to-face with none other than Mr. Darcy himself. Suddenly, every woman’s fantasy becomes one woman’s reality.

Grotesque

2007

by Natsuo Kirino

Grotesque delves into the dark and hidden precincts of Japanese society, unraveling the lives of Tokyo prostitutes Yuriko and Kazue, who have been brutally murdered. Their deaths leave a trail of unanswered questions about their identities, their murderer, and the paths that led them to this tragic end.

The narrative unfolds ingeniously, mediated coolly by Yuriko’s older sister, taking us back to their time in a prestigious girls’ high school. Here, a strict social hierarchy determined their fates, and we follow their struggles against the rigid societal conventions.

This novel is not just a psychological investigation into the female psyche but also a work of noir fiction that confirms Natsuo Kirino’s electrifying talents. The narrative sheds light on the pressures facing Japanese women, the allure of dark desires, and the vicious ambitions that drive them.

Ophelia

2006

by Lisa M. Klein

He is Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; she is simply Ophelia. If you think you know their story, think again.

In this reimagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, it is Ophelia who takes center stage. A rowdy, motherless girl, she grows up at Elsinore Castle to become the queen's most trusted lady-in-waiting. Ambitious for knowledge and witty as well as beautiful, Ophelia learns the ways of power in a court where nothing is as it seems.

When she catches the attention of the captivating, dark-haired Prince Hamlet, their love blossoms in secret. But bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and Ophelia's happiness is shattered. Ultimately, she must choose between her love for Hamlet and her own life.

In desperation, Ophelia devises a treacherous plan to escape from Elsinore forever... with one very dangerous secret.

Lisa Klein's Ophelia tells the story of a young woman falling in love, searching for her place in the world, and finding the strength to survive. Sharp and literary, dark and romantic, this dramatic story holds readers in its grip until the final, heartrending scene.

Little Earthquakes

2006

by Jennifer Weiner

Little Earthquakes is a hilarious and warmhearted story from the New York Times bestselling author of In Her Shoes. It follows the journey of three young women as they navigate the complexities of new motherhood and find friendship amidst the chaos.

Meet Becky, a plump, sexy chef with an adorable baby girl and the mother-in-law from hell. Then there's Kelly, an event planner trying to juggle her career while managing motherhood and hoping her husband will get his act together. Lastly, there's Ayinde, married to a Philadelphia basketball star, facing the challenges of infidelity and a newborn.

As these three women grow closer, they are joined by Lia, a Hollywood starlet returning home to Philadelphia after a personal tragedy. Together, they discover the true meaning of friendship and support.

By turns moving, funny, and inspiring, Little Earthquakes is a delightful read from a prodigiously talented author.

Montana Sky

2006

by Nora Roberts

When Jack Mercy died, he left behind a ranch worth nearly twenty million dollars. Now his three daughters—each born of a different mother, and each unknown by the others—are gathered to hear the reading of the will. But the women are shocked to learn that before any of them can inherit, they must live together on the ranch for one year. For Tess, a screenwriter who just wants to collect her cash and get back to Hollywood, it’s a nightmare. For Lily, on the run from her abusive ex-husband, it’s a refuge. And for Willa—who grew up on the ranch—it’s an intrusion into her rightful home.They are sisters…and strangers. Now they face a challenge: to put their bitterness aside and live like a family. To protect each other from danger—and unite against a brutal enemy who threatens to destroy them all…

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

2003

by Michael Dorris

Michael Dorris has crafted a fierce saga of three generations of Indian women, beset by hardships and torn by angry secrets, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of kinship. Starting in the present day and moving backward, the novel is told in the voices of the three women: fifteen-year-old part-black Rayona; her American Indian mother, Christine, consumed by tenderness and resentment toward those she loves; and the fierce and mysterious Ida, mother and grandmother whose haunting secrets, betrayals, and dreams echo through the years, braiding together the strands of the shared past.

The Lake of Dead Languages

2002

by Carol Goodman

The Lake of Dead Languages is an evocative and intricate thriller that captures the reader's imagination. In the haunting tradition of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, this accomplished debut novel explores the shadowy corridors of youthful innocence tainted by dark sins.

Twenty years ago, Jane Hudson left the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy. Now, she returns to the serene yet isolated shores of the lakeside school as a Latin teacher, seeking a fresh start with her young daughter. However, ominous messages from the past begin to surface, dredging up forgotten memories that soon turn into a living nightmare.

Since freshman year, Jane and her two roommates, Lucy Toller and Deirdre Hall, were inseparable—studying the classics, performing school rituals by the lake, and sneaking out after curfew to meet Lucy’s charismatic brother, Matt. But during the last winter before graduation, their sheltered wonderland was shattered when three lives were claimed by senseless suicide.

Only Jane survived to carry the burden of a mystery that has remained hidden for more than two decades in the dark depths of Heart Lake. Now, pages from Jane’s missing journal, written during that tragic time, have reappeared, revealing shocking, long-buried secrets. As the truth slowly surfaces, young, troubled girls begin to die once again...

Compelling, sensuous, and intelligent, The Lake of Dead Languages is an eloquent thriller, balancing suspense and fine storytelling, and showcasing Carol Goodman's rare talent with a brilliant future.

Dance Upon the Air

2001

by Nora Roberts

When Nell Channing arrives on the charming Three Sisters Island, she believes that she's finally found refuge from her abusive husband—and from the terrifying life she fled so desperately eight months ago.

But even in this quiet, peaceful place, Nell never feels entirely at ease. Careful to conceal her true identity, she takes a job as a cook at the local bookstore café—and begins to explore her feelings for the island sheriff, Zack Todd. But there is a part of herself she can never reveal to him, for she must continue to guard her secrets if she wants to keep the past at bay. One careless word, one misplaced confidence, and the new life she's created so carefully could shatter completely.

Just as Nell starts to wonder if she'll ever be able to break free of her fear, she realizes that the island suffers under a terrible curse—one that can only be broken by the descendants of the Three Sisters, the witches who settled the island back in 1692. And now, with the help of two other strong, gifted women—and with the nightmares of the past haunting her every step—she must find the power to save her home, her love, and herself.

The Scarlet Thread

2000

by Francine Rivers

When Sierra discovers a handcrafted quilt made by one of her young ancestors, she embarks on a journey that intertwines her life with the past. Through the quilt, she finds the journal of a young pioneer woman on the Oregon Trail, leading her to realize that their lives, though separated by time, are strikingly similar.

As Sierra delves into the past, she finds herself rediscovering her own spirituality and understanding the meaning of unconditional love and surrendering to God's sovereignty. This touching narrative explores themes of love, loss, and the enduring power of faith, guiding Sierra to find her true path and reconnect with her own heart.

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing

2000

by Melissa Bank

Generous-hearted and wickedly insightful, The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, and relationships, as well as the treacherous waters of the workplace.

With an unforgettable comic touch, Bank skillfully teases out universal issues of the heart, puts a new spin on the mating dance, and captures in perfect pitch what it's like to be a young woman coming of age in America today.

A Woman of Independent Means

A Woman of Independent Means is a captivating novel that takes readers on a journey through the life of Bess Steed Garner at the turn of the century, a time when women had few choices. Bess inherits a legacy—not only of wealth but of determination and desire, making her truly a woman of independent means.

From the early 1900s through the 1960s, we accompany Bess as she endures life's trials and triumphs with unfailing courage and indomitable spirit: the sacrifices love sometimes requires of the heart, the flaws and rewards of marriage, the often-tested bond between mother and child, and the will to defy a society that demands conformity.

This richly woven story, told in letters, follows Bess from her childhood in 1899 to her death in 1977. It's an inspirational tale of a woman who stands firm against the pressures of her time, offering a unique perspective on the evolution of women's roles throughout the 20th century.

The Edible Woman

1998

by Margaret Atwood

Marian is determined to be ordinary. She lays her head gently on the shoulder of her serious fiancé and quietly awaits marriage. But she didn't count on an inner rebellion that would rock her stable routine, and her digestion. Marriage à la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can't stomach...

The Edible Woman is a funny, engaging novel about emotional cannibalism, men and women, and the desire to be consumed. This groundbreaking work of fiction is marked by blazingly surreal humor and a colorful cast of eccentric characters.

The Atonement Child

1997

by Francine Rivers

The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers is a powerful novel that explores the deeply personal and controversial topic of abortion. In a single, terrifying moment, Dynah Carey's seemingly perfect life is shattered by a rape that results in an unwanted pregnancy. Her future is irrevocably altered, and her devoted family is torn apart.

Dynah's rock-solid faith is tested to its limits as she faces the most momentous choice of her life: to embrace or to end the untimely life within her. This is ultimately a tale of three women, as Dynah’s plight forces both her mother and her grandmother to confront the choices they made.

Written with balance and compassion, The Atonement Child brings a new perspective to a widely debated topic, offering a heart-wrenching yet uplifting story.

Mr. Perfect

What would make the perfect man? That's the deliciously racy topic that Jaine Bright and her three girlfriends are pondering one night at their favorite after-hours hot spot: Mr. Perfect.

Would he be tall, dark, and handsome? Caring and warmhearted -- or will just muscular do? As their conversation heats up, they concoct a tongue-in-cheek checklist that becomes an overnight sensation, spreading like wildfire at work and sizzling along e-mail lines.

But what began as a joke among friends turns deadly serious when one of the four women is murdered.... Turning to her neighbor, an unpredictable police detective, for help, Jaine must unmask a killer to save her friends -- and herself. Now, knowing whom to trust and whom to love is a matter of survival -- as the dream of Mr. Perfect becomes a chilling nightmare.

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