Feeling in a funk? Nothing can stir up your passions more than a good book featuring strong characters, particularly those who are real flesh and blood.
If you are a woman, reading books about strong women can definitely serve as an excellent source of inspiration. Or, if you’re looking for a book to gift to a strong woman in your life, these can work just as well.
Books About Strong Women
Check out our curated list of some of the best books about strong women:
1. The Von Trapp Family Singers by Maria Von Trapp
You may have first heard of Maria in the classic musical film, The Sound of Music. But did you know that there was a real Maria who actually married into the Von Trapp family? Get to know the real woman in this autobiography. Of course, you might be disappointed to finding that some of the elements from the movie were fictional, but the story of her life is still worth a read!
2. A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffman Rockne
One of the best artists in the 19th century, Lilias Trotter gave up many of her privileges to share the love of Christ in Algeria, defying stereotypes that deter European women from serving in a Muslim country. Instead, she leverages on her love for art and literature and lives a life of love to form deep friendships with Algerian Muslims.
3. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
When you feel like making excuse after excuse, reading this story of the blind and deaf child who rose to great heights will surely spur you into action. Having no one who could penetrate her world, she eventually read through tons of literature and even became a writer herself! If she can do it, why can’t anyone else?
4. The Alpine Path by L.M. Montgomery
This autobiography of the bestselling author of the Anne of Green Gables series will surely inspire you to reach for your dreams, and do whatever it takes to get them, especially if you also want to become a published writer yourself!
5. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
This memoir will change the way you view sexual assault. Be ready to have your beliefs of what is acceptable to be challenged, and take a deeper look into the tumultuous world of pain, resilience, and healing. Thankfully, this expert writer includes humor into her writing to give us a well-rounded look at a very serious issue.
6. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
See the world through the eyes of a young girl who recorded her thoughts during the Nazi regime, surviving the worst encounters at a concentration camp and holding on to her humanity throughout the ordeal.
7. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
The daughter of a Dutch clockmaker, Corrie Ten Boom experienced World War II by hiding Jews in her family’s home. Her entire family eventually got captured and put in a concentration camp, where her sister and other family members died. Corrie survived the concentration camp and tells her story in this harrowing memoir.
8. Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky
This book highlights 50 notable women and their contributions to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) throughout history, tracing achievements from ancient to modern times.
9. Things I’ve Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi
What is it like to grow up in a country with an intensely troubled political atmosphere? This memoir reveals the memories of Azar Nafisi, who grew up in Iran in the shadow of a powerful mother while the country underwent a complicated political revolution.
10. Every Bitter Thing is Sweet by Sara Hagerty and Katie Davis
In this book, Sara Hagerty shares the many lessons she’s learned from a life of risk-taking and faith, from decades of barrenness to adopting four children from Africa, each with their own individual baggage and struggles.
11. Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis and Beth Clark
Eighteen-year-old Katie Davis took a gap year and flew to Africa, unaware of how that decision would change the trajectory of her life forever. She ended up adopting 13 children in Uganda, and set up a ministry that feeds and sends hundreds to school, while sharing the relentless love of Jesus Christ with them.
12. Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Pulitzer Prize winners Kristof and WuDunn take us into Africa and Asia, introducing us to several ordinary women living extraordinary lives, including a Cambodian woman sold into slavery as a teenager and an Ethiopian woman whose childbirth left her with more scars than she bargained for.
13. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
As the creator of groundbreaking shows Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes is no stranger to falling in a rut. Upon realizing that she had been in her comfort zone for a while, Shonda finally decided to spend a whole year saying ‘yes’ to everything that was scary to her!
14. The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
Some may think that philanthropist Melinda Gates has stayed in the shadows of her husband Bill’s success, but in this first book about her personal life, she shares her many experiences in the 20 years she spent traveling the world and meeting people from all sides of the social spectrum.
15. In Conclusion, Don’t Worry About It by Lauren Graham
The actress who played the leading role in the hit TV series Gilmore Girls began with a commencement speech, which she turned into this book, offering advice to anyone who is undergoing a transition in their life.
16. Becoming by Michelle Obama
Former first lady Michelle Obama gives readers a glimpse into the challenges and triumphs she has experienced, which inevitably shaped her into who she is today: a fearless woman who advocates for other women in spite of obstacles along the way.
17. Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik
Forugh Farrokhzad’s parents forced her into a stifling marriage, in hopes of taming her rebellious spirit. But the fighter inside her spurs her to run away and live life on her own terms. She uses her poetry to highlight the terrors that women face.
18. The Girl They Left Behind by Roxanne Veletzos
This novel is based on the true story of Natalia, an orphan in war-torn Romania who was adopted in Bucharest. Eventually, she falls in love with a powerful Communist official, who gives her the chance to find connections with her past.
19. The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
Did you know that in World War II, a group of female spies were working undercover? This is what one young woman discovers in 1946, when she finds an abandoned suitcase in a New York train station.
Read About Strong Women
These books show us just how much difference one strong woman can make in the world, even with all odds working against her.
Are you aching to make a similar impact? Add a few of these books to your reading list and see how you can use your God-given gifts to make a similar transformation in the world around you.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
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Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
