# Novels with pregnant heroines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671 "2017-03-08T03:11:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/21 "2017-03-08T15:38:48Z")
In Jennifer Roberson’s Deepwood, one of\* the main characters is very pregnant and gives birth while the rest of the caravan is being attacked. \*It’s an ensemble piece, so I wouldn’t call her _the_ main character, but the book often cuts to her POV and her actions are among those that move the plot, so I’d say she counts. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/22 "2017-03-08T16:44:23Z")
In **The Grapes of Wrath** Rose of Sharon sort of saves the day by Breast-feeding a starving man with the unused milk of her stillborn baby (they left this part out of the movie) ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/23 "2017-03-08T17:36:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Frannie Goldsmith in Stephen King’s “The Stand” is pregnant throughout the novel and delivers just before the end. No one knows if her baby will survive the Super Flu. Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) borrowed this plot arc for his novel “The Fireman” ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/24 "2017-03-08T17:47:09Z")
Laura Bruce is pregnant throughout Sharyn McCrumb’s[The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter.](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/135106.The_Hangman_s_Beautiful_Daughter) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/25 "2017-03-08T18:12:49Z")
A friend of mine wrote a frontier romance novel where the heroine got pregnant three times over the course of the story. I consider her meticulously researched and vividly described passage on giving birth in the 1800’s to be one of the most effective forms of birth control ever. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/26 "2017-03-08T18:59:24Z")
Could Lady Jessica in _Dune_ be considered a heroine? She was pregnant with Alia for a good part of the novel. It has been awhile since I read the book, but didn’t she teach the Fremen the weirding way and perform some other hands-on tasks to help the plot along? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/27 "2017-03-08T19:09:51Z")
I’m pretty sure Joanna Brady was pregnant during at least one of the novels in J.A. Jance’s eponymous series. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/28 "2017-03-08T19:16:52Z")
Gretchen and Julie in \*\*1632 \*\* by Eric Flint. (TV Tropes said another woman in the battle at the end was also pregnant, but I’m not sure which one. Rita, maybe?) Thursday Next in **The Well of Lost Plots** by Jasper Fforde. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/29 "2017-03-08T20:09:44Z")
The last book of the Queen & Country novels by Greg Rucka (a continuation of his comic series), if I remember correctly, has Tara Chace pregnant. I don’t recall if she was in early pregnancy, if it was dealt with in a quick montage, or what. But she is the hero of the series, for certain. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/30 "2017-03-08T20:16:54Z")
Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels books now have a pregnant heroine. Darynda Jones’s Charley Davidson series about a grim reaper have several books featuring said reaper pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/31 "2017-03-08T22:21:20Z")
Daenerys Targaryen was pregnant through most of _A Game of Thrones_, though not in the rest of the series. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/32 "2017-03-08T22:47:53Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son) borrowed this plot arc for his novel “The Fireman” Cool. Thanks for the tip. I’m on it. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/33 "2017-03-08T23:39:02Z")
In the [Search of Mavin the Manyshaped](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104346.The_Search_of_Mavin_Manyshaped) the title character discovers she’s pregnant which prevents her from shape shifting. But it is the third book in a series that is itself a sequel so it may be hard to get into from the start. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/34 "2017-03-08T23:57:50Z")
[Talulla Rising](https://www.amazon.com/Talulla-Rising-Glen-Duncan/dp/0307742180) has a severe case of antiheroine. She is pregnant in the beginning of the book, but I think she has the kid pretty early on; it’s been a few years since I’ve read it. Whether she saves the world or not is debatable; the main goal is to prevent humans from murdering all the bloody monsters like the protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/35 "2017-03-09T00:03:25Z")
The Wheel of Time series has something of an ensemble cast (with various sections of various books following the viewpoints of people other than the Dragon Reborn), but Queen Elayne of Andor is pregnant (with the Dragon Reborn’s children (twins)) throughout the last three books, and she’s definitely a main character. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/36 "2017-03-09T01:31:50Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve read it, but IIRC Meg is pregnant for _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_, by Madeline L’Engle. Wasn’t Ayla pregnant for part of _Clan of the Cave Bear_? And I’m pretty sure there was some pregnancy in McCaffery’s Pern books, too. [Relevant Order of the Stick strip](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0587.html) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/37 "2017-03-09T02:27:23Z")
Any chance “Enemy Mine” (from the story of the same name) might fit? The Drac is a s/he, but pregnant all the same. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/38 "2017-03-09T02:32:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s been a long time since I’ve read it, but IIRC Meg is pregnant for _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_, by Madeline L’Engle. > > Wasn’t Ayla pregnant for part of _Clan of the Cave Bear_? > > And I’m pretty sure there was some pregnancy in McCaffery’s Pern books, too. > > [Relevant Order of the Stick strip](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0587.html) Yes, And Iza was pregnant when she found Ayla, too. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/39 "2017-03-09T05:56:10Z")
The main character in “Salvage The Bones” is newly pregnant - and 14 years old. > **[Amazon.com: Salvage the Bones: A Novel: 8601422187960: Ward, Jesmyn: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Salvage-Bones-Novel-Jesmyn-Ward/dp/1608196267)** > > Amazon.com: Salvage the Bones: A Novel: 8601422187960: Ward, Jesmyn: Books ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-pregnant-heroines/781671/40 "2017-03-09T14:14:16Z")
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