Women’s voices have been silenced throughout history – their accomplishments and contributions drowned out by those of their male contemporaries. Increasingly we’re beginning to hear their stories in non-fiction, and in literature. Here are some of the best novels that explore traditionally patriarchal stories from the woman’s perspective.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

In Margaret Atwood’s clever novella, the classic story of The Odyssey is reimagined from the perspective of Odysseus’ clever and cunning wife, Penelope. While Homer’s titular character is tom-catting his way around Peloponnesia, Penelope is running Ithaca and attempting to stay one step ahead of the suitors who have their eye on the kingdom.

For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser

In a similar vein to The Penelopiad, For the Most Beautiful is a retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women of Troy. Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, begins with a battle over two women – Chryseis and Briseis – both prisoners of the Greek army. They play a pivotal role in what comes to pass, but only passively. Emily Hauser gives them back their autonomy and chronicles the challenges they face in the battle to save Troy.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

In the Bible’s Book of Genesis, Dinah is one of the many silent female characters. Daughter of Jacob, sister of Joseph, her life is reduced to an act of violence that is committed against her. Anna Diamant’s bestselling book, The Red Tent, demonstrates a Dinah with a voice and purpose.

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

Most people have heard of Amelia Earhart, but Beryl Markham’s name seems to have been somewhat forgotten. Brought up in colonial British East Africa, she was an adventurer, racehorse trainer, and pioneering aviator. Hemmingway called her memoir, West with the Night, ‘a bloody, wonderful book’ (adding: ‘this girl who is, to my knowledge, very unpleasant, and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers’). Paula McLain has revitalised her story in Circling the Sun.

And I Darken by Kiersten White

Kiersten White’s new YA novel, And I Darken, takes the story of Vlad The Impaler – real life inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula – and turns it on its head by gender-swapping Vlad for a ruthless new heroine, Lada.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Set during the Siege of Masada in which 900 Jews held out against the Roman army, Alice Hoffman’s novel, The Dovekeepers blends history, mythology and archaeology to tell the story of four women whose different journeys all land them in the middle of the massacre of 70 C.E.

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Marion Zimmer Bradley’s classic novel of the fall of Camelot is told through the eyes of the women who were forbidden a seat at the famous round table. The narrator of the book, Morgaine, is more familiar to us as the traditional villain of the story, but here Zimmer Bradley delves deeper into her motivations to reimagine her as a pagan priestess who is working desperately to protect her matriarchal pagan traditions against the encroaching patriarchal Christianity.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Most WWII stories about women have them surviving at home or nursing at the front, but Elizabeth Wein’s award-winning YA novel puts her two heroines right in the front line, one as a pilot and one as a spy. It’s not as fanciful as it seems – in actuality there were hundreds of women who flew bombers and war planes during the war including those of the Air Transport Auxiliary – dubbed ‘Attagirls’ by their male comrades they’ve been mostly overlooked by history.

Lian Hingee