Let’s Talk Bookish: Favourite Female Protagonists

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

This is such a great topic, and I was so excited when I saw this under March’s prompts. I do read a lot of books with female protagonists – it’s not a deliberate effort to stay away from male protagonists, but more that the books I’m drawn to typically have women at their front and centre. So, let’s dive in.

Let’s Talk Bookish March 8th
Favourite Female Protagonists

Prompts: It’s International Women’s Day! Who are some of your favourite female protagonists? What makes a female protagonist feel genuine to you? Share some recommendations!

This feels like a really hard place to start – how do I even narrow it down? I feel like this could be a theme all on its own, favourite protagonists split by genre. For now, I’ll stick to my favourites from my most recent reads, the ones who are most fresh in my head. Firstly, Alana, in the Saga graphic novel series. I love her – she’s an ex-soldier who fled with a guy from the other side, throwing away her life and becoming a fugitive to live by her ideals. She does her absolute best, makes mistakes, but always keeps fighting through for her family.

Meghna in Say You’ll Be My Jaan is so incredibly relatable, unable to fully see the way her friend is taking advantage of her skills and talent, but when she does click on, well, hell hath no fury and all that. She does the best she can, and ultimately pushes through on her own goals, with some slight nudging from Karthik, but the hard work is all totally her. Shiori in Six Crimson Cranes is a princess with a secret, and when she is cursed she takes the events that follow in stride, never giving up and determined to break the curse cast on her and her brothers, whatever it takes.

And lastly – pretty much any protagonist from horror writers S.H. Cooper and Laurel Hightower. Both write strong women, in different ways, compelling protagonists who, no matter what is going on in their world, keep you hooked and wanting to find out more.

As for what makes female protagonists feel genuine – it’s all about the writer’s skill. I want a protagonist I can connect with on some level, whether it’s because of their goals, their background, or their personality – that doesn’t mean I need to see myself in them. It means if I understand why they’re doing what they’re doing, if I’m totally on board with that, I can feel myself almost cheering for them throughout, whether they’re journeying to break a curse, fake dating that hot guy for some mutual deal but there’s sparks flying, or doing everything in their power to protect their family while they’re all caught in the crossfires of a war, I’m there with them every step of the way.

They also feel genuine when they feel multi-layered, like you can clearly picture the life they’d have outside the plot of the book, even if it’s never explicitly stated. I want to feel like the protagonist is someone I could picture myself going for a coffee with, or a drink, and catching up. If they come across from the page as real, breathing people who might make mistakes or misunderstand something but do the best they can with what they’ve got, then they feel genuine.

Alongside the books already mentioned above (and I really mean it when I say anything by Cooper or Hightower!) I’d also recommend The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield, The Supreme Lie by Geraldine McCaughrean, These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs, and The Rose Daughter by Maria Lewis. All feature female protagonists who I absolutely adored.