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Historical Fiction for Women’s History Month

In honor of Women’s History Month, here are some works of fiction inspired by the lives of real women throughout history.

All you have to do is call

by Kerri Maher

The founder of an underground women's health organization that offers reproductive counseling and safe, illegal abortions, Veronica finds it more difficult to lead a double life, while two women in her neighborhood, grappling with similar disconnects, must make choices that will change the course of their lives forever.

And they called it Camelot : a novel of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis

by Stephanie Thornton

Using her charm and intelligence to carve a place for herself among the men of history, Jackie Kennedy is forced to reassemble the fragments of her life after her husband's assassination. 

The bohemians : a novel

by Jasmin Darznik

Celebrating the life and career of photographer Dorothea Lange, this novel explores the wild years in San Francisco that awakened her career-defining grit, compassion and daring.

The brightest star : a novel

by Gail Tsukiyama

Arriving in Hollywood to become an actress, Anna May Wong discovers her beauty and talent aren't enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles and, over the years, fights to win lead roles, accept risqué parts and keep her illicit love affairs hidden—even as she finds global stardom.

Libertie

by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Coming of age as a free-born Black woman in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson struggles against her mother’s medical aspirations for her when she finds herself more drawn to a musical career that could compromise her autonomy. 

Little

by Edward Carey

The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.

The lost journals of Sacajewea : a novel

by Debra Magpie Earling

Stolen from her village and then gambled away to a French Canadian trapper and trader, Sacajewea, determined to survive and triumph, crosses a vast and brutal terrain with her newborn son, the white man who owns her and a company of men who wish to conquer the world she loves.

The most beautiful girl in Cuba

by Chanel Cleeton

At the end of the 19th century, reporter Grace Harrington and a courier secretly working for Cuban revolutionaries in Havana free “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba” who has been unjustly imprisoned— a mission that forces them all to fight for their freedom as war looms on the horizon.

On a night of a thousand stars

by Andrea Yaryura Clark

After hearing a woman's cryptic comments to her wealthy diplomat father at their annual summer soiree, Paloma becomes curious about his past, setting in motion a chain of events that cause her to question her family and identity, but also puts her life in danger. 

The queen of Sugar Hill : a novel of Hattie McDaniel

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

The first African-American woman to win an Academy Award, Hattie McDaniel, when the Oscar curse sets in, is thrust in the middle of two worlds—black and white—and is not welcomed in either but, through it all, continued her fight to pave a path for other Negro actors. 

The only woman in the room

by Marie Benedict

A beautiful woman escapes her Austrian arms-dealer husband to become Hollywood legend Hedy Lamarr while hiding a secret double life as a Jewish scientist and sharing vital information about the Third Reich.

Sisi : empress on her own : a novel

by Allison Pataki

A tale inspired by the life of Empress Sisi in 19th-century Vienna places such events as the opening of the Suez Canal, Vienna's World Exhibition and the outbreak of World War I against a backdrop of imperial court temptations, rivalries and cutthroat intrigues.

Sister mother warrior : a novel

by Vanessa Riley

When a war breaks out on Saint Domingue, two extraordinary women—the first Empress of Haiti and a West African-born warrior—finally meet and play pivotal roles in the revolution that will eventually lead to full independence for Haiti and its people. 

Take my hand

by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

In 1973 Montgomery, Alabama, Civil Townsend, a young black nurse working for the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, grapples with her role when she takes two young girls into her heart and the unthinkable happens, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

The women's march : a novel of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession

by Jennifer Chiaverini

Inspired by actual events, this novel offers a fascinating account of a crucial but little-remembered moment in American history that follows three courageous women who bravely risked their lives and liberty in the fight to win the vote.