Short takes on three female-centered historical novels I haven't reviewed here before

I managed to get in some good reading this summer!  Here are short takes on three novels I definitely recommend.

Kate Grenville’s Restless Dolly Maunder fictionalizes the life story of her grandmother, born in 1881 in rural New South Wales, Australia. She depicts Dolly as a complicated woman who endured disappointments and crushed ambitions but rose to make a financial success of her life – yet whose experiences hardened her character. Dolly’s daughter and granddaughter found her cold and domineering, and yet she broke open new paths for them with her persistence and drive. By the end, you may find Dolly’s personality difficult to like, but what she accomplishes with her life is undeniably admirable. It’s an insightful character portrait, told matter-of-factly and with clear-eyed understanding. Published in the US and UK by Canongate, Restless Dolly Maunder was shortlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction.  I read it from a Libby copy.

I found Gill Paul’s Scandalous Women irresistibly dishy from start to finish as it depicted the public lives and private worries of Jacqueline Susann and Jackie Collins, who steamed up the bestseller lists with their bold, unabashedly sexy, female-centered novels. They received backlash (and worse) from snooty, chauvinistic book critics and feminists alike but sold millions while opening doors for other female authors. Their journeys to success are fascinating, and I especially loved the insider scoop on the state of publishing in the 1960s and ‘70s. Paul intertwines their stories by seamlessly slipping in a fictional character, Nancy White, a recent college grad seeking entrée into the competitive, highly sexist New York publishing industry. Nancy’s story from naïve hopeful to groundbreaking feminist editor more than holds its own in this hugely entertaining tale about women’s empowerment, the supportive friends (male and female) that nurture them, and the importance of great storytelling. Scandalous Women was published last week by William Morrow, and I read it from a personal copy.

Continuing with the theme of women struggling against the repressive patriarchy, we have Paulette Kennedy’s The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, in which a housewife and mother in small-town Missouri in 1955 begins seeing visions and hearing voices from the beyond. I'd thought the author's first novel, Parting the Veil, was very good, and this one is even better.  While unnerved by her sudden paranormal talents, Loretta Davenport hopes to use them for good when she gets glimpses of a female murder victim’s final moments. But her husband Pete, a minister and professor at a local Christian university, is horrified and embarrassed, believing she’s delusional and that her behavior will derail his tenure pursuit. The combination of marital conflict, crime thriller, and paranormal mystery brings out the best of the author’s talents in character development and plotting. The more Loretta pursues answers, turning to a caring parapsychologist for help and understanding, the more controlling Pete becomes. The novel feels accurate in in its quaint mid-century household details, yet the overriding theme makes it clear that this era isn’t one that women should look back on with nostalgia. The Devil and Mrs. Davenport was published earlier this year by Lake Union, and I'd purchased a copy on Kindle.