Top 10 novels about women's political awakening

From Kate Chopin to Jeanette Winterson, some novels not only depict the pressures on women, they also change their lives

The most iconic feminist slogan of the 20th century was surely “the personal is political”. It was a rallying cry and the subject of countless works of feminist theory, but it was also a literary aesthetic. Novels were an essential part of second-wave feminism (which lasted roughly from the late 60s to the mid-80s), and female novelists were adept at depicting how women came to understand the political nature of their personal lives, a process commonly referred to as “consciousness-raising” or “awakening”.

During this time, there was a profusion of such novels – spanning many genres and countries – portraying women’s awakening to feminism, to deeper understanding of racism, to lesbian sexuality, to the limitations that women face, or to a mix of some or all of these. As characters in novels underwent a process of awakening, readers did as well. Fiction helped spread feminist ideas widely, and a few of these novels – including Fear of Flying and The Women’s Room – were blockbusters that sold millions of copies.

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