Feel good books celebrating resilient women
| Book cover | Book title and author | Book introduction | Websites for more information |
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Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies by Scarlett Curtis |
A collection of writing from extraordinary women, from Hollywood actresses to teenage activists, each telling the story of their personal relationship with feminism, this book explores what it means to be a woman from every point of view. Often funny, sometimes surprising, and always inspiring, this book aims to bridge the gap between the feminist hashtag and the scholarly text by giving women the space to explain how they actually feel about feminism. This book contains strong language and some adult content. |
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The Truths we Hold: an American Journey by Kamala Harris |
From Vice President Kamala Harris, one of America's most inspiring political leaders, a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country. |
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Women and Leadership by Julia Gillard and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala |
Women make up less than 10 per cent of national leaders, and behind this lies a pattern of unequal access to power. In conversation with some of the world's most powerful and interesting women, Women and Leadership explores gender bias and asks why there aren't more women in leadership roles? Using current research as a starting point, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala form questions and hypotheses, then test them on the lived experiences of women leaders such as Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Clinton, Christine Lagarde, Michelle Bachelet and Theresa May. | |
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Dr Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest: Rebel Girls |
From the world of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls comes a historical novel based on the life of Dr. Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist and environmentalist from Kenya. Then Wangari grows up and goes away to school, and things start changing at home. Farmers chop down the trees. Landslides bury the stream. The soil becomes overworked and dry, and nothing will grow. People go hungry. After all her studies, Dr. Wangari Maathai realizes there is a simple solution to these problems: plant a forest full of trees. |
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The Book of Awesome Women by Becca Anderson |
Rebels, trailblazers, and visionaries who shaped our history...and our future! |
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Skint Estate: notes from the poverty line by Cash Carraway |
Cash Carraway is a single mum living in temporary accommodation. She's been moved around the system since she left home at 16. She's also been called a stain on society. And she's caught in a poverty trap. 'Skint Estate' is the hard-hitting debut memoir about impoverishment, loneliness and violence - set against a grim landscape of sink estates, police cells, refuges and peepshows. Told frankly, but with a swaggerous eye roll and a smirk, Cash delves into the reality of family estrangement, mental illness, alcoholism and domestic violence in working-class Britain today. |
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Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell |
In this phenomenal memoir - the first of its kind - Wendy grapples with questions most of us have never had to consider. What do you value when loss of memory reframes what you have, how you have lived and what you stand to lose? What happens when you can no longer recognise your own daughters or even, on the foggiest of days, yourself? Philosophical, intensely personal and ultimately hopeful, "Somebody I Used to Know" gets to the very heart of what it means to be human. It is both a heartrending tribute to the woman Wendy used to be and a brave affirmation of the woman dementia has seen her become. | |
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Call me Red: a Shepherd’s Journey by Hannah Jackson |
In this uplifting and inspirational memoir, Hannah shares how she broke the stereotypes of her 'townie' beginnings, took risks and faced up to the challenges of being a young woman in a male-dominated industry, and followed her heart to become the Red Shepherdess. But behind the beautiful landscape, talented sheepdogs and eye-catching red hair was a steep learning curve. The physically and mentally demanding conditions she faced as she chased her dreams to build her own Cumbrian farm taught Hannah the values that hold true, including community, leadership, patience and resilience. | None |
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On This Day She: putting women back in history, one day at a time by Tania Hershman, Ailsa Holland, and Jo Bell |
From Beyoncé to Doria Shafik, Queen Elizabeth I to Lillian Bilocca, On This Day She sets out to redress this imbalance and give voice to both those already deemed female icons, alongside others whom the history books have failed to include: the good, the bad and everything in between - this is a record of human existence at its most authentic. |
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Fears to Fierce by Brita Fernandez Schmidt |
Brita Fernandez Schmidt has spent 25 years championing women's rights across the world, nurturing her own fierce and inspiring others to do the same. Through a combination of guidance, storytelling and practical tools, her rallying call in Fears to Fierce will inspire you to realise your purpose and potential, ignite your fierce and create the life you have been dreaming of. |
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She Speaks: women speeches that changed the world from Pankhurst to Thunberg – Yvette Cooper |
Looking at lists of the greatest speeches of all time, you might think that powerful oratory is the preserve of men. But the truth is very different - countless brave and bold women have used their voices to inspire change, transform lives and radically alter history. | |
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Wuhan Diary: dispatches from a quarantined city by Fang Fang |
A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. Fang Fang finds solace in small domestic comforts and is inspired by the courage of friends, health professionals and volunteers, as well as the resilience and perseverance of Wuhan's nine million residents.
But, by claiming the writer´s duty to record she also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems which impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it. |
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How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis |
On a pilgrimage to 'Wuthering Heights' with her best friend, Samantha Ellis found herself arguing about which heroine she liked best: Jane Eyre or Cathy Earnshaw. She was all for wild, free, passionate Cathy, but her friend found Cathy, a snob who betrays Heathcliff for Edgar - while Jane makes her own way. And that's when she realised that she'd been trying to be Cathy when she should have been trying to be Jane. So, she decided to look again at all the heroines she'd loved through her life, from her earliest obsessions with the Little Mermaid and Anne of Green Gables; and then on to Scarlett O'Hara, Sylvia Plath, the Dolls (of the Valley); and later Riders, Buffy, Flora Poste from 'Cold Comfort Farm' and many, many more. |