Are women authors starting to rewrite history?
…and I mean this literally. Keep reading, then leave a comment to join this dialogue. And don’t forget to scroll to the bottom to access today’s writing prompt and Community Notes (New!).
If you’ve been paying attention to books released over the past decade, you’ve probably already noticed the uptick in retellings of well-known works and stories from history and nonfiction works on women’s history. Via fiction and nonfiction, women authors are beginning to retell history from women’s perspectives in growing numbers. And I am here for it!
Women authors are now actively rewriting history by centering forgotten, marginalized, or misunderstood women in nonfiction works and historical fiction, transforming ‘hisstory’ into ‘herstory.’ Through deep research and imaginative storytelling, their work is actively resurrecting real-life figures, challenging patriarchal narratives, and exploring the literal and emotional truths of the past.
One of the most notable authors doing this is Marie Benedict, who has written multiple historical fiction novels from the perspective of women previously misunderstood, forgotten, or overlooked to history, including:
The Personal Librarian (2021): Co-authored with Victoria Christopher Murray, this top-selling novel is based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman who passes as white to become J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian in the Gilded Age.
The Only Woman in the Room (2019): This popular novel is about actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr, and focuses on her secret life as a brilliant inventor who co-developed a frequency-hopping technology that became a precursor to modern Wi-Fi.
Carnegie’s Maid (2018): This bestseller features the life of Clara Kelley, an Irish immigrant who poses as a lady’s maid to Andrew Carnegie’s mother. Clara’s intellect and business acumen influence Carnegie’s evolution from a ruthless industrialist into a legendary philanthropist.
The First Ladies (2023): Another successful collaboration with Victoria Christopher Murray, this novel details the powerful, unlikely friendship between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist and educator, Mary McLeod Bethune. Beginning in 1927, the story explores their collaboration in fighting for racial justice, women’s rights, and education, influencing New Deal policies despite immense political obstacles and personal trials.
The Other Einstein (2016): This novel explores the life of Mileva Marić, a brilliant physicist and Albert Einstein’s first wife. The story, told from her perspective, highlights her struggle as a woman in academia, her intellectual partnership with Albert, and her lost potential as she is overshadowed by his fame, ultimately documenting their failing marriage.
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie (2020): Centered on Agatha Christie, this novel imagines what happened during her real-life 11-day disappearance in 1926, which is still mostly a mystery to this day. After discovering her husband Archie is having an affair and wants a divorce in the novel, Agatha orchestrates her own disappearance to frame him, using her master skills in creating puzzles to craft her own vanishing act.
Lady Clementine (2020): This novel details the life of Clementine Churchill, the ambitious, intelligent wife of Winston Churchill. Spanning from 1908 to 1945, it portrays her as a vital political partner and devoted advisor who helped shape British history during both World Wars, often sacrificing her own wellbeing and personal life to support her husband and country.
Benedict, however, is not the only woman author out there reimagining history and transforming it, page by page, line by line, into ‘herstory.’ There are dozens of women authors out there doing this. And while I can’t name them all here, I can mention some of their works that I have read and enjoyed, which are similar(ish) to Benedict’s:
Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi (2026) offers readers the rare opportunity to see the world from Cleopatra’s perspective and rewrite the versions of her history that have been destroyed, lost, or written by men who include her enemies. And it is a captivating read. Readers will become entranced by the complexities of who Cleopatra was and the decisions she could have very well made in real life with each page they turn. Read my full book review here.
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult (2024) makes two bold claims. The first is that perhaps William Shakespeare did not author all the works he has been believed to have authored for centuries now. The second is that perhaps a woman named Emilia Bassano authored a good number of them instead, along with a small group of playwrights who would now be considered part of an elite literati. And after reading this novel, you just might be convinced that at least one, if not both, of those claims are true. (Be sure to read the Author’s Note section at the end of the book.) Read my full book review here.
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (2023) is a historical mystery based on the true story of Martha Ballard, an 18th-century midwife and healer in Hallowell, Maine, who was forgotten to history. When a man found dead in the frozen Kennebec River is linked to a brutal rape case, Martha investigates to find justice for the victim, battling corrupt, powerful men. Read my full book review here.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (2020) is a historical feminist novel following Ana, a rebellious, educated woman in 1st-century Galilee who marries an 18-year-old Jesus. The story focuses on her struggle to find her voice as a writer while navigating a restrictive society, documenting the lives of silenced women, and enduring personal tragedy.
Circe by Madeline Miller (2018) is a feminist reimagining of the minor Greek myth, following the banished sun-god’s daughter as she develops witchcraft on the island of Aiaia. Over thousands of years, she matures from a timid nymph into a powerful witch, encountering legendary figures like Odysseus, Hermes, and the Minotaur, ultimately choosing mortality to protect her son and live on her own terms.
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll (2023) is a historical fiction thriller that re-centers the story of a Ted Bundy-like serial killer (who is never explicitly named) on his victims and survivors rather than his notoriety. The novel follows Pamela, a sorority president surviving a 1978 attack, and Tina, who is searching for her missing friend, as they seek justice and defy media glorification of the ‘average’ killer.
I have also read many nonfiction works that serve as retellings for forgotten, marginalized, or misunderstood women in history over the past several years. Here are a few of the most notable:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2010) tells the true story of a poor Black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells, taken without her consent in 1951, became the first immortal human cell line (HeLa). While HeLa cells revolutionized medicine by advancing polio vaccines, gene mapping, and cancer research, Henrietta died at 31, leaving her family unaware of her profound scientific legacy and struggling to afford health care, until recently. The book intertwines the story of HeLa’s scientific impact with the biography of Henrietta and the emotional journey of her daughter, Deborah Lacks, who struggled to understand how her mother could be ‘alive’ in labs.
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark (2020) is a definitive, Pulitzer Prize-finalist biography that reframes Plath as an ambitious, disciplined, and innovative artist rather than just a tragic figure. It provides a comprehensive look at her life, using new materials to detail her brilliance and struggles. It also offers in depth literary analysis of her work using these new materials. And it inspired this post I wrote: Sylvia, Death, and Me.
Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon is a dual biography that parallels the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter, Mary Shelley, exploring how they defied 18th and 19th-century societal conventions to become iconic writers and feminists. Despite never knowing each other (Wollstonecraft died shortly after Shelley’s birth.), their lives were eerily similar, both featuring tumultuous romances, unconventional lifestyles, and profound literary contributions.
How to Think Like a Woman: Four Women Philosophers Who Taught Me How to Love the Life of the Mind by Regan Penaluna (2023) is a blend of memoir, biography, and feminist philosophy that challenges the male-dominated history of thought. Penaluna spotlights four forgotten female philosophers (Masham, Astell, Cockburn, Wollstonecraft) to argue for an intellectual life that embraces passion, anger, and personal experience, rather than detached objectivity. Read my full book review here.
The Cure for Women: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed Women’s Lives Forever by Lydia Reeder (2024) is a biography detailing the life of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi, a trailblazing 19th-century physician who defied Victorian-era misogyny to revolutionize women’s healthcare. It highlights her fight for medical education, her groundbreaking scientific research dismantling myths of female inferiority, and her advocacy for suffrage. Read my full book review here.
I took the time to list these books in today’s post not only because it’s important to read them and the future works they’ll influence, but because they are actively rewriting history as we speak, page by page, line by line.
Historical retellings with women’s perspectives at the forefront, whether fiction or nonfiction, are essential to correcting the male-dominated historical record and the narratives and fictions that come with them. They transform overlooked or silenced experiences that are central to understanding history overall, as well as how it’s written and told and evolves.
These ‘retold’ narratives allow the historical record, which is constantly being perfected over time, to provide a more accurate, inclusive, and nuanced understanding of the past while highlighting women’s (very real) agency and their impact on history, rather than presenting women as merely supporting characters or assuming that they never contributed anything essential to humankind at all simply because they were ignored or deliberately sidelined. And readers are relishing them, as narratives like these are only growing in popularity.
Women-centered retellings of myths, fairy tales, and historical narratives are a rapidly growing, dominant literary trend that is projected to continue expanding through 2026 and beyond. Driven by strong consumer demand —particularly among women, who account for 80% of fiction sales in major markets— this growing genre aims to recontextualize formerly sidelined female characters as the protagonists of their own stories.
Questions for further dialogue:
Would you say that women authors are starting to rewrite history? Why or why not?
Do you believe these authors are ‘correcting’ history, or simply adding a necessary, missing perspective?
Why do you think certain women or events were excluded from historical records in the first place, and how do the books mentioned in today’s post address that void?
Leave a comment to join this dialogue, and don’t forget to share this post with others so they can join this dialogue too. Thank you in advance!
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© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
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