# Female first-person literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691 "2014-12-08T20:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/41 "2014-12-09T20:56:21Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > No, she never says anything. She does narrate at least one chapter, and it reveals some pretty crucial information, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/42 "2014-12-09T21:38:32Z")
I don’t know if it counts as famous anymore but you can’t get any more first person or female than _Diary of a Provincial Lady_ by E.M. Delafield, which I recommend unreservedly to anyone who wants a look into 1930s England and appreciates a sharp dry wit. It is the literary grandmother to _Bridget Jones’s Diary_ (also female and first person and definitely famous) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/43 "2014-12-09T21:54:13Z")
The [Cecelia and Kate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Wrede#Cecelia_and_Kate) novels are almost exclusively written in female first person. They’re written as the collected letters of a pair of woman friends in an alternate universe; the first book actually started out as a “Letter Game” between the two authors they decided was good enough to clean up and publish. Patricia Wrede’s Frontier Magic trilogy is also written in first person perspective. The protagonist is a girl/young woman in an alternate America where magic is more common than technology, where there were never any Indians but are instead vast numbers of fantastical monsters and no one has ever crossed the Rocky Mountains alive. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/44 "2014-12-09T22:09:46Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > No, she never says anything. Addie narrates chapter 40. There are at least two other female characters–Dewey Dell Bundren and Cora Tull–who also narrate a few chapters each. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/45 "2014-12-09T22:23:52Z")
Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons (famous?) narrated by a young girl. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/46 "2014-12-09T22:28:33Z")
All but one of the Little House series are from Laura’s POV, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/47 "2014-12-09T23:07:49Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > All but one of the Little House series are from Laura’s POV, aren’t they? If I remember correctly, they are from Laura’s point of view, but are written in the third person rather than the first person. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/48 "2014-12-10T04:06:07Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Addie narrates chapter 40. > > There are at least two other female characters–Dewey Dell Bundren and Cora Tull–who also narrate a few chapters each. Obviously many years of leaves have fallen since American Lit class. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/49 "2014-12-10T04:20:54Z")
_The Spy Who Loved Me_ is unique among Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels for being first person, through the eyes of a young French-Canadian woman who only meets Bond in the later chapters. ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/50 "2014-12-10T04:36:37Z")
A quick scan through my last few years of books on Goodreads: The Fault In Our Stars - John Green The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver Big Brother - Lionel Shriver Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro Among Others - Jo Watson We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler All The Birds, Singing - Evie Wyld Kindred - Octavia E Butler Geek Love - Katherine Dunn Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson Also, half the chapters of: Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn The Collector - John Fowles ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/51 "2014-12-10T04:37:57Z")
I was going to suggest Robert J. Sawyer’s trilogy, WWW (Wake, Wonder Watch). The first book, especially, is an excellent first person young blind woman’s account. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/52 "2014-12-10T07:29:43Z")
Compromising Positions by Susan Isaacs and a couple other novels by her feature Judith Singer bored housewife turned detective. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/53 "2014-12-10T07:36:29Z")
“Eve’s Diary,” short story by Mark Twain. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/54 "2014-12-10T11:17:13Z")
[_Addie Pray_](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/232965.Paper_Moon) by Joe David Brown. The basis of the movie [_Paper Moon_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070510/). Addie’s adventures are more, and more varied than the movie’s. A fun read. [_Kitty Foyle_](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2235096.Kitty_Foyle) by Christopher Morley. The basis of [the movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032671/). Kitty is friskier in the book. Another good read. [_Rebecca_](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17899948-rebecca)… > [@](#): > > Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper… a page-turner with 222,748 good **reads** ratings and 9,995 reviews (compared to 915,911 ratings and 23,061 reviews for [_Jane Eyre_](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10210.Jane_Eyre)). I saw the movie version of [_Rebecca_](http://www.filmsite.org/rebec.html) as a Classics Illustrated version of the novel, with some key plot points changed due to US movie censorship. Anyway, for anyone with more than one lifetime available for reading, there is of course also male first-person literature written by women. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/55 "2014-12-10T17:05:16Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If I remember correctly, they are from Laura’s point of view, but are written in the third person rather than the first person. You’re quite right, I remembered wrong. My penance was staying up past two to finish the book I’d opened to doublecheck. ---
**Author:** ![spanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@spanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spanna)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/56 "2014-12-10T17:22:46Z")
Poison Study - Maria V Snyder has a female protagonist (followed by Magic Study & Fire Study) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/57 "2014-12-10T19:17:19Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > No, she never says anything. She never says anything while she’s alive, but a chapter that appears AFTER her death was narrated by the mother… and she reveals herself as a pretty horrible person. And a few chapters are narrated by her teenage daughter, who thinks she’s pregnant and is seeking some kind of abortifacient. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/58 "2014-12-10T23:05:45Z")
_The Red Tent_ by Anita Diamant. _Possessing the Secret of Joy_ by Alice Walker. _The Bluest Eye_ by Toni Morrison. _Parable of the Talents_ by Octavia Butler. _Rubyfruit Jungle_ by Rita Mae Brown. _Tipping the Velvet_ by Sarah Waters. _Thérèse et Isabelle_ by Violette Leduc. _Sultana’s Dream_ by Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain. _Madras on Rainy Days_ by Samina Ali. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/59 "2014-12-11T00:19:29Z")
A pair of YA novels by Juliet Marillier that make good reading for grownups too are \*Wildwood Dancing \*and its companion book _Cybele’s Secret_. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691/60 "2014-12-11T02:46:46Z")
I just remembered a good one: _Lavinia_ by Ursula K. LeGuin. Gives the \*Aeneid \* a similar treatment to what _The Red Tent_ did for the Book of Genesis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-first-person-literature/706691.md?page=4)