Summer reads: 5 books by female authors to inspire your holiday reading

At SHE DEFINED, we’re huge advocates of women and we do our best to support and empower women whenever we can.

So, when it came to choosing some great books for your holiday reading, we decided to stick to a selection of titles by female authors.

Regardless of whether you’re staying at home for the holidays or travelling afar, you can make a great escape with one of these page-turners.

From reflections on self-delusion to dazzling collections of fiction, here are five great books by female authors to add to your holiday reading list.

1. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

This novel follows the stories of 12 characters, most of them black British women, who raise timeless questions about feminism and race.

They share interconnected stories about their families, friends and lovers, across the country and through the years with wit and wisdom.

The joint winner of the Booker Prize 2019, Girl, Woman, Other is a read worthy of your time and attention.

Purchase a copy of Girl, Woman, Other here.

2. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

From the bestselling author of Me Before You, After You and Still Me comes this stand-alone novel inspired by a remarkable true story.

The Giver of Stars follows the journey of five women living in perilous times. Alice Wright has travelled to America to escape her stifling life in England, but she soon realises that swapping suburbia for newlywed life in the wild mountains of Kentucky isn’t the answer to her prayers. But maybe meeting Margery O’Hara is. Margery enlists the help of Alice and three other women to join her on a mission to ride hundreds of miles each week to deliver books to isolated families, and in the process they transform lives.

A Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine Book Club pick, The Giver of Stars is a love letter to the power of books and their ability to bring people together, as well as a tribute to female friendship.

Purchase a copy of The Giver of Stars here.

3. Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

For those who enjoy non-fiction, Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror is an enlightening read that analyses the notion of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives.

It’s a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly through a culture that revolves around the self.

In her collection of essays, Tolentino writes about a cultural prism: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the advent of scamming as the definitive millennial ethos; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter.

Peppered with Tolentino’s signature sense of humour and ability to articulate the impossibly complex, Trick Mirror is the honest read we all need in these complicated times.

Purchase a copy of Trick Mirror here.

4. The Diamond Hunter by Fiona McIntosh

From the bestselling author of The Pearl Thief comes this historical blockbuster which is currently a fiction top-seller in Australia.

The Diamond Hunter is set in southern Africa during the 1870s diamond rush, where six-year-old Clementine Knight is left to be raised by her alcoholic father, after her mother dies from malaria. Their Zulu companion, Joseph One-Shoe, mostly cares for the young girl until the two men discover a large, immaculate diamond.

Just as the diamond disappears, a sinister bargain is made to return Clementine to a decent life in northern England. Years later, Clementine aims to solve the mystery of what happened to her loved ones, but she must confront a painful past to uncover the truth.

The Diamond Hunter is a story about adventure, trust and betrayal, the ultimate quest for truth, and a love that is priceless.

Purchase a copy of The Diamond Hunter here.

5. Grand Union by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith has established herself as one of the most prolific, critically respected, and popular writers of her generation.

In Grand Union, a dazzling collection of short stories, she combines her power of observation and her inimitable voice to mine the fraught and complex experience of life in the modern world.

Incorporating 11 new and unpublished pieces, along with some of her most-loved stories from The New Yorker and elsewhere, Smith shares a rich and varied collection of fiction.

Nothing is off limits – everything from history to current day to slightly dystopian is explored through themes of time and place, identity, rebirth and legacy. Grand Union highlights the wonders that only Smith can do.

Purchase a copy of Grand Union here.