On Tuesday, voters elected Michelle Wu the first woman and the first person of color as Mayor of Boston. Here at Memorial Hall Library, our fiction selectors are voting to demolish the glass ceiling for all levels of political power. We know that at City Hall and in the halls of Congress, strong and savvy female protagonists make for great reading. They also normalize equality and inspire future feminist leaders. In every fiction genre - historical fiction, political thrillers, cozy mysteries and domestic fiction - women elected officials are agents of change who know that the personal is political. Bookstores and library shelves definitely need more fiction about women politicians and political activists. Maybe one of these books will inspire you to write one of your own.
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It's classified : a novel
by Nicolle Wallace A former White House Communications Director and current political media strategist presents a follow-up to Eighteen Acres that finds Vice President Tara Meyers struggling to redeem herself after a botched interview by working on a high-profile terror investigation that is complicated by allegations about the White House's culpability. |
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Twisted prey
by John Sandford Lucas Davenport confronts an old nemesis in U.S. senator Taryn Grant, a rich psychopath who he has resolved to bring to justice for her role in three murders. |
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Shall we tell the president?
by Jeffrey Archer As the newly elected President of the United States Florentyna Kane gives her inaugural speech, her enemies are waiting in the shadows to destroy her, and only one man, FBI Special Agent Mark Andrews, can expose the deadly conspiracy and save the nation. |
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A woman first : first woman : a memoir
by Selina Meyer Born and raised deep in the American heartland of God-fearing suburban Maryland, young Selina Eaton learned to love her country and her fellow man from her parents, Catherine, a sportswoman, dog lover, and philanthropist, and Gordon, or "Daddy" as she always called him, a businessman and entrepreneur. From an early age, Selina, an active, curious, happy-go-lucky child, showed an uncanny ability to relate to others and to solve their real-world problems with real-world solutions. In this she was inspired by her idol: feminist, humanitarian, stateswoman, and first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. |
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The switch : a novel
by Joseph Finder When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she's come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. Both know that the senator broke the law by uploading classified documents onto her personal computer. Abbott turns to a "fixer" to retrieve the laptop before a bigger security breach is revealed. |
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Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire : Duchess of Devonshire
by Amanda Foreman Traces the life of the eighteenth-century British aristocrat from her marriage to the Duke of Devonshire to her rise in power, discussing her powerful connections, political influence and accomplishments, and personal struggles |
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Protect and defend
by Richard North Patterson When the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court drops dead immediately following the inauguration, President Kerry Kilcannon finds the first order of business is to find a replacement, settling on Judge Caroline Masters, a woman who hides the career-damaging secret of an illegitimate child, a secret that could affect her ruling on a controversial case. |
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Madam President
by Nicolle Wallace Charlotte Kramer, the forty-fifth president of the United States, has done the unprecedented in allowing a network news team to document a day in her life--and that of her most senior staff. But while twenty news cameras are embedded with the president, the unthinkable happens: five major attacks are leveled on US soil. Her secretary of defense, Melanie, and her press secretary, Dale, must instantly jump to action in supporting the president and reassuring the country that the safety they treasure is in capable hands. But secrets have always thrived in President Kramer's White House. |
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When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius--his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with an actual prince, Henry, across the pond. |
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State of terror : a novel
by Hillary Rodham Clinton Ellen Adams, a novice Secretary of State, has joined the administration of her rival, a president inaugurated after four years of American leadership that shrank from the world stage. A series of terrorist attacks throws the global order into disarray and the secretary is tasked with assembling a team to unravel the deadly conspiracy, a scheme carefully designed to take advantage of an American government dangerously out of touch and out of power in the places where it counts the most. This high-stakes thriller of international intrigue features behind-the-scenes global drama informed by details only an insider could know. |
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In 2049, as the President of the United States waits to be sworn in, she reflects on senior year in high school when she and her three dear friends vied for the attention of the future First Gentleman. |
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The President's daughter
by Ellen Emerson White Sixteen-year-old Meghan Powers' happy life in Massachusetts changes drastically when her mother, one of the most prestigious senators in the country, becomes the front-runner in the race for United States President |
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Madame Presidentess : A Novel of Victoria Woodhull
by Nicole Evelina Forty-eight years before women were granted the right to vote, one woman dared to run for President of the United States, yet her name has been virtually written out of the history books. Rising from the shame of an abusive childhood, Victoria Woodhull, the daughter of a con-man and a religious zealot, vows to follow her destiny, one the spirits say will lead her out of poverty to become ruler of her people. But the road to glory is far from easy. |
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Eighteen acres : a novel
by Nicolle Wallace A former communications director under George W. Bush and campaign adviser to John McCain and Sarah Palin delivers the story of a female president who finds her marriage, the presidency and the safety of the American people in peril after rumors of her husband's infidelity circulate and her national security advisor makes grave errors of judgement. |
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Rodham : a novel
by Curtis Sittenfeld "In 1971, Hillary Rodham is a young woman full of promise. Life magazine covered her Wellesley commencement speech, she's attending Yale Law School, and she's on the forefront of student activism and the women's rights movement. Then she meets a fellow law student named Bill Clinton. A charismatic Southerner, Bill is already laying the groundwork for his political career. In each other, Hillary and Bill find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced. In the real world, Hillary followed Bill back to Arkansas, and he proposed several times. Although she turned him down more than once, she eventually accepted and became Hillary Clinton. But in Curtis Sittenfeld's powerfully imagined tour de force of fiction, Hillary follows a different path. |
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The councillor
by E. J. Beaton When the death of Iron Queen Sarelin Brey fractures the realm of Elira, Lysande Prior, the palace scholar and the queen's closest friend, is appointed Councillor. Publically, Lysande must choose the next monarch from amongst the city-rulers vying for the throne. Privately, she seeks to discover which ruler murdered the queen, suspecting the use of magic. Further from home, an old enemy is stirring: the magic-wielding White Queen is on the move again, and her alliance with a traitor among the royal milieu poses a danger not just to the peace of the realm, but to the survival of everything that Lysande cares about. |
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She demanded suffrage for all people, running for President of the United States with escaped slave Frederick Douglass as her running mate--fifty years before women gained the right to vote. And yet, Victoria Woodhull has been written out of history. Discover the unlikely story of this forgotten feminist, whose rural Ohio childhood of poverty and exploitation drove her into a career of political activism and an all-consuming romance in New York City. |
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Charlotte Walsh likes to win : a novel
by Jo Piazza Charlotte Walsh is running for Senate in the most important race in the country during a midterm election that will decide the balance of power in Congress. Still reeling from a presidential election that shocked and divided the country and inspired by the chance to make a difference, she's left behind her high-powered job in Silicon Valley and returned, with her husband Max and their three young daughters, to her downtrodden Pennsylvania hometown to run in the Rust Belt state. |
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Never
by Ken Follett Navigating terrorist attacks, illegal arms trading and smear campaigns, Pauline Green, the country’s first women president, is caught in a complex web of alliances with the most powerful counties that are being orchestrated by the enemy, and only those with the most elite skills can stop the inevitable. |
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Tsarina
by Ellen Alpsten A narrative tale based on the true story of Peter the Great’s second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, recounts how she used her extraordinary intelligence to escape poverty and assume her unstable husband’s responsibilities in 18th-century Russia. |
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Three sisters, three queens
by Philippa Gregory Brought to the Tudor court as a young bride, Katherine of Aragon forges a unique sisterhood with the king's sisters, Margaret and Mary, that is shaped by rivalries, wars, betrayal, widowhood, motherhood, passion and secrets. By the best-selling author of The Other Boleyn Girl. |
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Her quiet revolution : a novel of Martha Hughes Cannon, frontier doctor and first female state senator
by Marianne Monson An historically rich novel that brings to life the fascinating story of America's first female state senator, Martha Hughes Cannon, who was also a doctor, suffragist, and champion of public health in the frontier territory of Utah in the late 19th century. As a young girl traveling to Utah by wagon in 1861, Martha, or Mattie as she was called, was deeply influenced by the early struggles her family endured as frontier pioneers, including the premature deaths of her baby sister and father. From those early experiences, she found her calling. |
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Cleo McDougal regrets nothing : a novel
by Allison Winn Scotch Cleo McDougal is a born politician. From congresswoman to senator, the magnetic, ambitious single mother now has her eye on the White House--always looking forward, never back. Until an estranged childhood friend shreds her in an op-ed hit piece gone viral. With seven words--'Cleo McDougal is not a good person'--the presidential hopeful has gone from in control to damage control, and not just in Washington but in life. Enter Cleo's 'regrets list' of 233 and counting. Her chief of staff has a brilliant idea: pick the top ten, make amends during a media blitz, and repair her reputation. But there are regrets, and there are regrets: like her broken relationship with her sister, her affair with a law school professor...and the regret too big to even say out loud. |
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On the corner of Hope and Main
by Beverly Jenkins When the mayor of historic Henry Adams, Kansas, decides it’s time to step down, a former marine and his wife battle each other for the position, putting their teenage son squarely in the middle. |
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Isle of dogs
by Patricia Daniels Cornwell Angered over the governor's order on speed traps, the eccentric inhabitants of the Isle of Tangier, off the coast of Virginia, declare war on their own state, and it is up to Judy Hammer, the new superintendent of the state police, to stop the crisis. |
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Oppo : a novel
by Tom Rosenstiel Offered the vice presidential spot by both major parties during a tumultuous primary season, respected centrist senator, Wendy Upton hires investigator Peter Rena to uncover an anonymous adversary who is threatening her career. |
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Out to Canaan
by Jan Karon In the small town of Mitford, rector Father Tim and his lovely wife Cynthia ponder their retirement plans, trying to raise their siblings, while a brash mayoral candidate is calling for development and "progress" against incumbent mayor Esther Cunningham. |