Alexandre Dumas wrote La Reine Margot about two women, Marguerite (Margot of the title) and her mother, and the political machinations of the two of them and how they use men to promote their own agendas it's really good actually, very bloody though, and based on real historical characters.... Labyrinthe by Kate Mosse has a female protagonist who is trying to find the grail.... it's not particularly brilliant though
and there's mists of avalon, the arthur myth told by the women.... there's lots of good books about women who aren't necessarily out to find men, Vellum by Hal Duncan, one of the major characters is Phreedom who is looking for her brother (but I've only just finished it and I'm still unsure if i liked it, it's either brilliant or really really contrived) you'll understand if you read it
Yeahhh... I have a few things with female protagonists (those mentioned above, then also a few of gibson's books, connie willis...) but on the whole, Must Try Harder or something. >>
Try Melissa Scott. Only thing I've read by her (and this was, like, in my undergrad, so, uh. Better part of a decade ago) is Trouble and Her Friends: cyberpunk featuring a woman and her ex-lover Cerise.
Also, Tanya Huff, perhaps? *thinking* If you haven't read it, perhaps Alison Bechdel's Fun Home? It's a memoir about growing up a lesbian with a deeply-closeted gay father. It's also about books books books books books. Graphic novel, absolutely fabulous.
(You may also like her compilation of her long-running comic strip, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For.)
Actually, what y'all are after sounds a lot like books that pass the Bechdel test, but with more lesbians.
A Thousand Splendid Suns is about women in Afghanistan but it's harrowing as hell. I'd also recommend The Handmaid's Tale but again, harrowing. Both stories about the oppression of women and the struggle to overcome it. Not sure if that's quite what you're after but I did enjoy both.
I had to read The Handmaid's Tale as one of my A-level English texts, actually; I still don't honestly know what I thought of it, possibly because we had to go into so much depth on it and spent so much time with it. It all got a bit much after a while. *wry* Thank you!
You should try listening to Women's Hour on Radio 4. Presumably they podcast it. I tend to hear snippets but it's always interesting. They often cover women's literature. Yesterday, there was a feature on George Elliot (aka Mary Ann Evans) and and today they were discussing George Orwell's wife, but they often discuss and/or interview more contemporary writers.
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it's really good actually, very bloody though, and based on real historical characters....
Labyrinthe by Kate Mosse has a female protagonist who is trying to find the grail.... it's not particularly brilliant though
and there's mists of avalon, the arthur myth told by the women....
there's lots of good books about women who aren't necessarily out to find men, Vellum by Hal Duncan, one of the major characters is Phreedom who is looking for her brother (but I've only just finished it and I'm still unsure if i liked it, it's either brilliant or really really contrived) you'll understand if you read it
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(You may also like her compilation of her long-running comic strip, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For.)
Actually, what y'all are after sounds a lot like books that pass the Bechdel test, but with more lesbians.
*googling around* Here's a lesbian summer reading list.
Oh, duh. Jeanette Winterson. Rita Mae Brown. Joanna Russ.
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Thank you for that lot. :D
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Octavia Butler and Patricia McKillip, too. Laurie R. King if you like mysteries.
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