Nervous Conditions Tsitsi Dangarembga The Women’s Press 1988 A modern classic in the African literary canon and voted in the Top Ten Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, this novel brings to the politics of decolonization theory the energy of women’s rights. An extraordinarily well-crafted work, this book is a work of vision.…
Tea and Tranquillisers: The Diary of a Happy Housewife Diane Harpwood Virago 1981 Sharp observation and biting wit characterise this brilliant fictional diary of a housewife. We meet our heroine ten years into marriage, negotiating the perils of daily domestic routine – the drama and boredom, frustrations and fulfillments of life as a wife and…
Benefits Zoe Fairbairns Virago 1979 From Zoe Fairbairns: Benefits is fiction – the tale of a group of women and men living through momentous and sometimes sinister political changes – but it grew out of fact: in particular, an episode in UK national politics in 1976 which seemed to prove beyond doubt the truth of the…
Patience and Sarah Alma Routsong(Isabel Miller) Ballantine Books 1969 From Wikipedia: Patience and Sarah is a 1969 historical fiction novel with strong lesbian themes by Alma Routsong, using the pen name Isabel Miller. It was originally self-published under the title A Place For Us and eventually found a publisher as Patience and Sarah in 1971. Routsong’s novel is based on a real-life painter named Mary Ann Willson who lived…
Women of Wonder: Science FictionStories by Women About Women Pamela Sargent Vintage Books 1974 In Women of Wonder, Pamela Sargent has assembled a collection of amazing stories which show that some of the most exciting and innovative writing in science fiction is being produced by women. Women in Science Fiction (1975) essay by Pamela SargentThe Child…
Woman at Point Zero Nawal El Saadawi Zed Books 1975 From Wikipedia: Woman at Point Zero is a novel by Nawal El Saadawi published in Arabic in 1975. The novel is based on Saadawi’s meeting with a female prisoner in Qanatir Prison and is the first-person account of Firdaus, a murderess who has agreed to tell her life story…
|| The Female Man Joanna Russ Bantam Books 1975 From Wikipedia: The novel follows the lives of four women living in parallel worlds that differ in time and place. When they cross over to each other’s worlds, their different views on gender roles startle each other’s preexisting notions of womanhood. In the end, their encounters…
Rubyfruit Jungle Rita Mae Brown Daughters 1973 From Wikipedia: Rubyfruit Jungle is the first novel by Rita Mae Brown. Published in 1973, it was remarkable in its day for its explicit portrayal of lesbianism. The novel is a coming-of-age autobiographical account of Brown’s youth and emergence as a lesbian author. The term “rubyfruit jungle” is…
A is for Alibi Sue Grafton Henry Holt 1982 From Wikipedia:“A” Is for Alibi is crime writer Sue Grafton’s debut mystery novel in the Kinsey Millhone “Alphabet mystery” series, first published in 1982. The novel is set in the fictional southern California city of Santa Teresa, based on Santa Barbara. The choice of murder by substituting the contents of an antihistamine tablet with crushed oleander meant…
The Color Purple Alice Walker Harcourt 1982 From Wikipedia: Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story focuses on the life of African-American women in the Southern United States in the 1930s, addressing numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture. The novel has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library…
