7 Must-Read Books with Strong Females

I love finding stories about every day women who are strong, fearless and fierce. From woman who live through a brutal regime, to those who make it through the American frontier, they all share one things: their strength.

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng

 In August 1966 a group of Red Guards ransacked the home of Nien Cheng. Her background made her an obvious target for the fanatics of the Cultural Revolution: educated in London, the widow of an official of Chiang Kai-Shek's regime, and an employee of Shell Oil, Nien Cheng enjoyed comforts that few of her compatriots could afford. When she refused to confess that any of this made her an enemy of the state, she was placed in solitary confinement, where she would remain for more than six years. 

Opening line:
"The past is forever with me and I remember it all."



 Deborah: Prophetess of God by H.B. Moore

Deborah, a young Israelite woman, lives a quiet and isolated life with her father and brothers. As a shepherdess in the hills near her home, she knows well the perils of her work. But when faced with incredible danger, she witnesses a series of remarkable events that preserve her life. The hand of the Lord is apparent, and it is clear that hers will be no ordinary life.    
  
Opening line:
"Laughter echoed against the hillside where Deborah crouched as she watched the two dozen Canaanite soldiers set up camp."


 And They Called it Camelot by Stephanie Marie Thornton

 Few of us can claim to be the authors of our fate. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy knows no other choice. With the eyes of the world watching, Jackie uses her effortless charm and keen intelligence to carve a place for herself among the men of history and weave a fairy tale for the American people, embodying a senator’s wife, a devoted mother, a First Lady—a queen in her own right.

 Opening line:

"The pink pillbox hat and Chanel-inspired bouclè suit awaited her on the bed." 




Longing For Home by Sarah M. Eden

 Twenty-six-year-old Katie Macauley has placed all her hope in Hope Springs, a small town in the 1870 Wyoming Territory. But if she wants to return home to Ireland to make amends with her estranged family, she'll need to convince the influential Joseph Archer to hold true to his word and keep her on his payroll as his housekeeper despite her Irish roots.

Opening line:
"Eighteen years had passed since Katie Macauley had killed her sister." 



 These is my Words by Nancy E. Turner

  A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon--from child to determined young adult to loving mother--she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose.

Opening line:
"A storm is rolling in and that always makes me sad and a little wistful so I get it in my head to set to paper all these things that have got us this far on our way through this heathen land."


Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montegomery

 As soon as Anne Shirley arrives at the snug white farmhouse called Green Gables, she is sure she wants to stay forever . . . but will the Cuthberts send her back to to the orphanage? Anne knows she's not what they expected—a skinny girl with fiery red hair and a temper to match. IAnne is not like anyone else, the Cuthberts agree; she is special—a girl with an enormous imagination. This orphan girl dreams of the day when she can call herself Anne of Green Gables.




 Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen

 Twenty-five years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars, known as much for her role as UNICEF ambassador as for films like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, Luca Dotti, “The war made my mother who she was.” 

 Opening line:
"Baroness Ella van Heemstra stood in the office of Adolph Hitler and offered her hand to the most famous man in the world, the man whose name was on simply everyone's lips."

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WHAT THE WIND KNOWS by Amy Harmon

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

Opening line:

""Grandfather, tell me about your mother.""

What a crazy ride into Irish history! Told from a time-traveler who's slipped into her early ancestor's lives.
I'm not sure I loved the ending.

THE DARKLING BRIDE by Laura Andersen

Three generations of Irish nobles face their family secrets in this spellbinding novel from the award-winning author of the Boleyn King trilogy.

The Gallagher family has called Deeprath Castle home for seven hundred years. Nestled in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, the estate is now slated to become a public trust, and book lover and scholar Carragh Ryan is hired to take inventory of its historic library. But after meeting Aidan, the current Viscount Gallagher, and his enigmatic family, Carragh knows that her task will be more challenging than she’d thought.

Two decades before, Aidan’s parents died violently at Deeprath. The case, which was never closed, has recently been taken up by a new detective determined to find the truth. The couple’s unusual deaths harken back a century, when twenty-three-year-old Lady Jenny Gallagher also died at Deeprath under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind an infant son and her husband, a renowned writer who never published again. These incidents only fueled fantastical theories about the Darkling Bride, a local legend of a sultry and dangerous woman from long ago whose wrath continues to haunt the castle.

The past catches up to the present, and odd clues in the house soon have Carragh wondering if there are unseen forces stalking the Gallagher family. As secrets emerge from the shadows and Carragh gets closer to answers—and to Aidan—could she be the Darkling Bride’s next victim?

Opening line:
"We have it on good authority, that Evan Chase-Gallagher, noted folklorist and author, has returned to England's shores following a sojourn of two and a half years in Ireland."

This book is beautiful. I loved the characters, the scenery, the castle, the mystery. I love stories that go between time, or eras, that build suspense and mysteries. This book did not disappoint! 

With love and death in 1180, 1992 and 2015, this story takes twists and turns and startling reveals to new heights that I didn't guess. Especially the ending. 

This is not a fast read, but a nice, slow burn, that is enjoyable and hard to put down.