FRIENDSHIPS
Women’s friendships are the focus of these books. Sometimes the friendship is between two women; sometimes the story follows a group of friends for several decades. The women support and advise each other through happy as well as troubled times.
Lois Battle
The Florabama Ladies’ Auxiliary and Sewing Circle
Elizabeth Berg
Talk Before Sleep
Maeve Binchy
Circle of Friends
Judy Blume
Summer Sisters
Barbara Taylor Bradford
A Sudden Change of Heart
Barbara Chepaitis
Feeding Christine
Jennifer Chiaverini
The Cross-Country Quilters
Iris Rainer Dart
Some Kind of Miracle
Anita Diamant
Good Harbor
Fannie Flagg
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café
Marianne Fredriksson
Two Women
Patricia Gaffney
The Saving Graces
Karin Gillespie
Bet Your Bottom Dollar
Barbara Hall
Summons to New Orleans
Diane Hammond
Going to Bend
J. Lynne Hinton
Friendship Cake
Rona Jaffe
The Room-Mating Season
Cassandra King
The Sunday Wife
Lorna Landvik
Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons
Debbie Macomber
Between Friends
Jo-Ann Mapson
Bad Girl Creek
Joan Medlicott
The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love
Whitney Otto
How to Make an American Quilt
Louise Shaffer
The Three Miss Margarets
Haywood Smith
The Red Hat Club
Lee Smith
The Last Girls
Penelope Stokes
Circle of Grace
Judith Henry Wall
The Girlfriends Club
Rebecca Wells
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
CHICK LIT
What is it? Chick Lit is saucy, sexy, irreverent fiction starring heroines with an attitude. These books feature 20– and 30-something women who deal with man problems, family crises, job dissatisfaction, self-image, or all of the above. Humor is always an ingredient.
Cecilia Ahern
P.S. I Love You
Melissa Bank
The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing
Candace Bushnell
Trading Up
Meg Cabot
Boy Meets Girl
Rita Ciresi
Pink Slip
Pearl Cleage
Some Things I Never Thought I’d Do
Danielle Crittenden
Amanda Bright @Home
Jennifer Crusie
Crazy for You
Meghan Daum
The Quality of Life Report
Kathleen DeMarco
Cranberry Queen
Sarah Dunn
The Big Love
Laura Esquivel
Like Water for Chocolate
Katie Fforde
Highland Fling
Helen Fielding
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Wendy French
Smothering
Gigi Levangie Grazer
Maneater
Jane Green
Straight Talking
Joanne Harris
Chocolat
Jane Heller
Lucky Stars
Judith Hendricks
Bread Alone
Marian Keyes
Angels
Sophie Kinsella
Can You Keep a Secret?
Anne Lamott
Blue Shoe
Elinor Lipman
The Pursuit of Alice Thrift
Hannah McCouch
Girl Cook
Sue Margolis
Neurotica
Anna Maxted
Running in Heels
Mameve Medwed
Mail
Marsha Moyer
The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch
Allison Pearson
I Don’t Know How She Does It
Elizabeth Robinson
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
Nina Solomon
Single Wife
Plum Sykes
Bergdorf Blondes
Adriana Trigiani
Big Stone Gap
Jennifer Weiner
In Her Shoes
Lauren Weisberger
The Devil Wears Prada
Lolly Winston
Good Grief
Laura Zigman
Animal Husbandry
WOMEN IN MID-LIFE
These books feature women in their 40’s and 50’s. The main characters must deal with a crisis, such as divorce, widowhood or a relative’s illness. The protagonists of these stories draw on their inner resources and remake their lives.
Mary Kay Andrews
Little Bitty Lies
Lois Battle
The Florabama Ladies’ Auxiliary and Sewing Circle
Elizabeth Berg
What We Keep
Elizabeth Buchan
Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman
Claire Cook
Must Love Dogs
Anita Diamant
Good Harbor
Delia Ephron
Hanging Up
Jennie Fields
The Middle Ages
Patricia Gaffney
The Saving Graces
Terry McMillan
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Mameve Medwed
The End of an Error
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Twelve Times Blessed
Anna Quindlen
One True Thing
Jeanne Ray
Eat Cake
Anita Shreve
The Pilot’s Wife
Haywood Smith
Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch
Catherine Todd
Secret Lives of Second Wives
Sarah Woodhouse
Meeting Lily
WISDOM OF AGE
Forget “over the hill”! The 60-plus women in these books are in their prime! Women who have lived, loved, survived hardship and loss and have come through strengthened share the wisdom of their experience with women of younger generations.
Lois Battle
Bed and Breakfast
Jennifer Chiaverini
The Quilter’s Apprentice and other books in the series
Harriet Doerr
Consider This, Senora
Gail Godwin
Evenings at Five
Joanne Harris
Five Quarters of the Orange
Joan Medlicott
The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love
and other books in the series
Anna Quindlen
Blessings
Jeanne Ray
Julie and Romeo
Ann B. Ross
Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind
Louise Shaffer
The Three Miss Margarets
Sarah Woodhouse
Other Lives
GENERATIONS OF WOMEN
Conflicts between generations are often at the core of these novels. Another recurring theme is exploration of the past. The plot may revolve around family secrets or the discovery of previously unknown facts about an ancestor.
Isabel Allende
Portrait in Sepia
Jennifer Chiaverini
The Quilter’s Legacy
Claire Cook
Multiple Choice
Patricia Gaffney
Circle of Three
Gail Godwin
A Mother and Two Daughters
Judith Ryan Hendricks
Isabel’s Daughter
Lorna Landvik
Patty Jane’s House of Curl
Gretchen Moran Laskas
The Midwife’s Tale
Francesca Marciano
Casa Rossa
Sue Miller
The World Below
Marge Piercy
Three Women
Rosamunde Pilcher
The Shell Seekers
Belva Plain
Evergreen
Emilie Richards
Wedding Ring
Barbara Samuel
A Piece of Heaven
Cathleen Schine
She is Me
Amy Tan
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Jennifer Weiner
In Her Shoes
Susan Wilson
The Fortune Teller’s Daughter
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