Favourite Female Characters in Literature from the Last 10 Years of Reading
I recently finished ‘A Town Like Alice’ (review in around 5
weeks) and not only loved it but became very impressed by the main female
character Jean Paget. I couldn’t help but think about all of the other great
female characters I’ve discovered in other books over the years so started to
put together a ‘Top 10’. Needless to say, looking below, this grew beyond 10
fairly quickly so I restricted it to the last 10 years of Blog reviews. Some of
the characters have become famous in their own rights whilst others are obscure
characters from equally obscure books but, for me at least, stood out in some
way or other. So, here they are – in no particular order:
Jean Paget – A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
Elizabeth Bennett – Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Anne Elliott – Persuasion by Jane Austen
Mara Carlyle – Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer
Jean Louise Finch (AKA ‘Scout’) - To Kill a Mockingbird by
Harper Lee
Clarissa Oakes - Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O’Brian
Claire Abshire - The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey
Niffenegger
Berenice Charlotte de Mornay-Perigord, former vicomtesse de
Laval - The Rising by Ian Tregillis
Sarah Fry - Sharpe’s Escape by Bernard Cornwell
Andy (Andrea) Rodriguez - Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Mary Boulton - The Outlander by Gil Adamson
Georgia Mason - Feed by Mira Grant
Tomisen (Tomi) Harkaway - The Last by Hanna Jameson
Irene Sauvelle - The Watcher in the Shadows by Carlos Ruiz
Zafo
Miss Jane Marple – Various by Agatha Christie
Helen Ambrose - The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
Ms Michael Tree - Deadly Beloved by Max Allan Collins
Madame Defarge - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Lacey Flint - A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton
‘Skeeter’ Phelan - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
‘Reno’ - The Flame Throwers by Rachel Kushner
Martha Andersson - The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the
Rules by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
Mathilde Donnay - A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien
Japrisot
Anna-Maria Mella - The Blood Spilt by Asa Larsson
Jane Eyre - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Mina Harker - Dracula by Bram Stoker
Lea Prism - Prodigal by Marc D Giller
Rae "Sunshine" Seddon - Sunshine by Robin McKinley
5 comments:
how do you keep track of all that?
I love some of those characters too, particularly Anne Elliot, Scout Finch and Lacey Flint. I'm slowly working through the Patrick O'Brian series but haven't met Clarissa Oakes yet!
@ Mudpuddle: I just went back on my Blog checking the last 10 years of posts. Plus I handily left myself clues in my reviews which jogged my memory when I needed it. Nothing too onerous or skillful!
@ Helen: I've always thought Anne Elliott was very underrated. I was very impressed by her (although my favourite Austen is sill Lizzie Bennett).... Clarissa Oaks is the 15th book in the Aubrey & Maturin series.
I'll do my favourite Male characters in a few weeks.
Some of my favorite female characters are on your impressive list. I would highlight Jane Eyre, Anne Elliott, and Mathilde Donnay in particular.
@ James: Thanks. There'a a lot of impressive female characters out there - written by both male & female authors too.
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