Every year, exceptional writers entertain and inform us about the world around. In This Awful Awesome Life, we try to spotlight many of these exceptional writers. Good writing is timeless. Sometimes accolades must be won over time and many authors are not appreciated until we examine their body of work. Others seem to find instant fame with the release of their first novel.
In the past, many talented women couldn’t write under their own names and had to adopt male pen names, but still they persevered and kept writing. Others had to bear unfair censorship because of their gender.
We’ve lost some incredible woman authors in the last few years – Toni Morrison; Sue Grafton; Mary Higgins Clark; Ursula K. Le Guin; Ntozake Shange; Judith Krantz; and Rosamunde Pilcher (This is only a partial list of the talented women the writing community has lost recently). Be sure to check out these talented authors and their work.
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ve selected a sample of books written by six exceptional women. Some of these women are icons and others have recently begun making their mark on the literary world.
Isabel Allende:
Allende was born in Peru and raised in Chile where she began her writing career. In 1993, she became a U.S. citizen. She is one of the most successful and widely read Spanish language authors. She was awarded the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2010 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014 by President Barack Obama for her body of work and the Isabel Allende Foundation she founded in honor of her daughter Paula who died of complications from porphyria. The foundation supports programs that promote and preserve the fundamental rights of women and children to be empowered and protected. (Below is only a partial last of her work)
Fiction:
The House of the Spirits – Allende’s debut novel chronicles the the triumphs and tragedies of three generations of the fictitious Trueba family in Chile.
Of Love and Shadows - Irene Beltrán is a magazine journalist who is constantly challenging the oppressive regime. She and Francisco Leal, her investigative partner and photographer, uncover an unspeakable crime. They risk their lives and liberty to reveal the truth in a nation overrun by terror and violence.
Eva Luna – Eva is a gifted storyteller who trades her stories like currency. Her gift brings her in contact with a diverse group of people as she reflects on the social and political upheaval in South America in her stories.
A Long Petal of the Sea - Allende’s latest novel is set during the Spanish civil war. Roser, a young pregnant widow, must turn to Victor Dalmau, an army doctor who is the brother of her deceased husband. To survive, they must enter into a marriage neither wants. Rosar and Victor flee to Chile with two thousand other refugees on a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda. They must embrace exile on a new continent as Europe erupts in world war.
Nonfiction:
My Invented Country: A Memoir - The book chronicles two life-changing moments. Allende parallels the rich and often violent history of Achilles with the assassination of her uncle Salvador Allende Gossens on September 11, 1973, which sent her into exile and transformed her into a literary writer. She also examines her reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on her adopted homeland, the United States,
The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir - Allende shares the tragic death of her daughter, Paula. She recalls a thirteen year period through the daily letters she and her mother, who lives in Chile, wrote to each other. Allende shares the stories of her family and the people in her life who have become a new kind of family.
Judy Blume:
Blume is not only an award winning writer of children’s books and YA novels, she has also written several bestselling books of adult fiction.
Wifey – Sandy Pressman is a bored suburban wife. How many times can she have her nails done or play golf? Her husband thinks she just needs to make some friends at the country club. But for some reason, the only thing that seems to get her attention is the naked man on the motorcycle. What will happen if she trades in her wifely duties and indulges her fantasies?
In The Unlikely Event – In the early 1950’s three planes crashed in a small town in New Jersey leaving the community in turmoil trying to understand these tragedies and work through their fears. Miri returns 35 years later to confront that tumultuous time and rekindle old relationships.
Summer Sisters – In the summer of 1977, Victoria’s life is forever changed when Caitlin becomes her friend. Vix is ushered into a world of privilege and summers in Martha’s Vineyard. Years later the “summer sisters” are no longer close. Vix never knew what went wrong with their friendship, but she’s surprised to receive an invitation to Caitlin’s wedding. Will attending the wedding bring closure or can these summer sisters rekindle their friendship?
Alice Walker:
Walker is an award-winning author of novels, stories, essays, and poetry. In 1983, she became the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel The Color Purple. Through her writing and in her public life, Walker has worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty.
The Color Purple (Book 1) - The loyalty and trust of two sisters—one a missionary in Africa and the other a child wife living in the South, is tested across time, distance, and silence. They must endure abuse as they struggle to find their independence and self worth in an uncaring society.
The Temple of My Familiar (Book 2) - Celie and Shug from The Color Purple witness the struggles of dozens of characters, all dealing in some way with the legacy of the African experience in America. Possessing the Secret of Joy (Book 3) - An American woman struggles with the genital mutilation she endured as a child in Africa.
Lauren Groff:
Groff is the bestselling author of three novels and two short story collections. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards and praised by Stephen King and Barack Obama. In 2017, she was named by Granta Magazine as one of the Best of Young American Novelists of her generation
The Monsters of Templeton – Wilhelmina Cooper returns to her hometown to search for the true identity of her father on the age day the fifty-foot corpse of a monster surfaces in Lake Glimmerglass." Her search for the truth takes her back two centuries and unravels the twisted secrets of her community.
Arcadia - Bit Stone was born on an upstate New York commune called Arcadia, He watches as his parents work to make Arcadia successful while the commune leader focuses on his own wants and needs before the needs of his community. After years of backbreaking work, poverty, and near-constant hunger, Bit’s family leaves the commune, but Bit feels the constant pull to return to Arcadia.
Fates and Furies: A Novel – Groff explores a 24 year marriage from the perspective of husband and wife exploring secrets in stark contrast to what people see as the perfect marriage and the perfect couple.
Delicate Edible Birds – In nine stories, Groff cracks open the lives of women in America exposing their hopes, desires, strengths and failings. Her characters struggle to be what society expects without getting stuck in lives not of their choosing.
Florida – In Groff’s latest work, the characters and towns can span decades or centuries in Florida. Groff captures the landscape, climate, history, and tone of a state in transition - the cities and the swamps claiming their own place in the lives of her characters.
Joan Didion:
Simply put, Didion is a legend. She is a journalist and a writer’s writer exposing the foibles of society while insisting the words we use are polished like diamonds instead of rough and frenetic. Her works span the tumultuous 1960’s to modern day. Her work has received multiple awards and accolades. She was awarded honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from Harvard and Yale and in 2013 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays by Joan Didion – essays on a society gripped by a deep generational divide. The flower children dropping acid in California are shown in contrast to to John Wayne filming his first picture after a bout with cancer. She compares the lifestyle of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes with that of folk singer Joan Baez. While her focus is primarily in California, Didion also examines the changing and non-changing lifestyles in places like Hawaii, Death Valley and the glitzy glamour of Las Vegas.
The White Album: Essays by Joan Didion - In this essay collection, Didion contrasts her own fears and nightmares with the concerns of 1960’s America counterculture confronting the dark underside of society.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion – In this memoir, Didion reflects on her 40 year marriage and the sudden loss of her husband and their adopted daughter.
Sarah M. Broom:
Broom’s debut novel won the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
The Yellow House – The shotgun style house in New Orleans was purchased in 1961 by Broom’s mother, who was a widow. She remarried and her second husband passed away shortly after Sarah’s birth. With the addition of Sarah their blended family contained 12 children. According to the author the house became the 13th child. Broom discusses a hundred years of family history interwoven with the significance of home ownership for her family; their struggles with racism and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Photo of Isabel Allende: public domain
Photo of Judy Blume:
By JudyBlume2009.jpg: Carl Lender [1] of Flickr.comderivative work: Solid State Survivor (talk) - JudyBlume2009.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7647745
Photo of Alice Walker:
Virginia DeBolt / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)
Photo of Lauren Groff:
Cbkallman at English Wikipedia / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
Photo of Joan Didion:
David Shankbone / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
Photo of Sarah M. Broom:
Taken by Hal Williamson and accessed 2/25/2020 from Broom’s website, https://www.sarahmbroom.com/bio for the purpose of this article. No copyright infringement intended