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The Moments Between Dreams  by Judith F. Brenner
Crazy to Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein
Nine Days by Judy Lannon
The Model Spy by Maryka Biaggio
The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood
Landscape of a Marriage by Gail Ward Olmsted
First Course by Jenn Bouchard
Fishnets & Fantasies by Jane Doucet
Luz  by Debra Thomas
Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman

Women’s Fiction Day may have been on June 8, but we at the Women’s Fiction Writers Association are celebrating all month long. Women’s fiction spans a wide variety of subject matter, of course, but here we’ll focus on ten compelling stories of change: novels with main characters embarking on new adventures and/or careers, trying new hobbies, breaking old habits, taking risks and having different outlooks. Enjoy some of the best books in our genre!

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The Moments Between Dreams by Judith F. Brenner (Greenleaf Book Group)

This novel is set in the 1940s and ‘50s, blending a backdrop of war, a pandemic of poliovirus, and a surge of domestic violence. The parallel with today’s scenario is immediate. The story follows Carol and her disabled daughter as they rally to gain liberties held back from women during those times. Carol was once a vibrant, confident young lady. That was her personality until she married Joe. His constant intimidation and violent temper shrink Carol’s confidence just as she tries to boost Ellie’s, a polio survivor facing discrimination. But Carol is determined to find her inner strength again to help her daughter and free herself from Joe’s grip, even if her husband threatens to kill her rather than let them go.

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Crazy to Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein (Lake Union)

Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There’s just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar. In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren’s couch while the other is just too perfect. Picking her heart up off the floor, Lauren turns to her work in advertising as she gathers the courage to move on and plan her next step. What lies ahead is the road to self-acceptance and the long-lost conviction of being worthy. With a new way to measure love and success, Lauren chucks her scale and finds a second chance in the most unexpected place.

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Nine Days by Judy Lannon (Atmosphere Press)

One phone call upends Sara Austin’s world. Out of town for a company conference, Sara gets a call informing her that her mother is in the hospital. As her reluctant Health Care Proxy, Sara must embark on this unwelcome journey, maneuvering the murky waters of dealing with an aging parent together with her siblings, each with plenty of baggage, helped only by humor and alcohol. But beyond her expectations, the journey turns out to be a blessing, gradually transforming her into a stronger and more integrated woman as she works through a lifetime of self-doubt and unworthiness. Instead of dwelling in the past and considering herself the product of divorce, narcissism and alcoholism, she learns to live in the present and appreciate her blessings.

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The Model Spy by Maryka Biaggio (Milford House Press)

Celebrated model Toto Koopman has it all. She models for Vogue magazine and Coco Chanel in 1920s Paris. But modeling doesn’t satisfy her. Fluent in six languages, adventurous and fascinated by world politics, she attracts the attention of Lord Beaverbrook, the William Randolph Hearst of England. She soon becomes his confidante, companion and translator, traveling and finding herself caught in the winds of an impending war. Beaverbrook introduces her to influential people, including a director at the British Intelligence Service, who schools her in espionage. When Germany invades Poland, Toto comes face to face with reality: either fight the Axis powers or lose the world she loves. She moves to Florence, joins the Italian resistance, and begins sending intelligence to London. But Mussolini’s Blackshirts and the Nazi’s military intelligence have her in their crosshairs and, as they pursue her, her courage is tested to the limit.

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The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood (Sourcebooks)

Based on a true story, The War Nurse is a sweeping historical novel set in WWI France.

Superintendent of Nurses Julia Stimson must recruit 64 nurses to relieve the battle-worn British, months before American troops are ready to be deployed. She knows that the young nurses serving near the front lines would face a challenging situation, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that awaits when they arrive at British Base Hospital 12 in Rouen, France. The primitive conditions, a convoluted, ineffective system, and horrific battle wounds are enough to discourage the most hardened nurses. Julia can do nothing but lead by example — even as the military doctors undermine her authority and make her question her very place in the hospital tent. When trainloads of soldiers stricken by a mysterious respiratory illness arrive one after the other, overwhelming the hospital’s limited resources and threatening the health of her staff, Julia faces an unthinkable choice — to step outside the bounds of her profession and risk the career she has fought so hard for, or watch the people she cares for most die in her arms.

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Landscape of a Marriage by Gail Ward Olmsted (Black Rose Writing)

New York, 1858: Mary, a young widow with three children, agrees to marry her brother-in-law Frederick Law Olmsted, who is acting on his late brother’s deathbed plea to “not let Mary suffer.” But she craves more than a marriage of convenience and sets out to win her husband’s love, sharing his vision to transform the American landscape. Mary joins Fred on his quest to create a “beating green heart” in the center of every urban space, transform the American landscape, starting with Central Park in New York. Over the next 40 years, Fred and Mary are inspired to create dozens of city parks, private estates and public spaces. Based upon real people and true events, this is the story of Mary’s journey and personal growth and also of the challenges inherent in loving a brilliant and ambitious man.

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First Course by Jenn Bouchard (TouchPoint Press)

When four life-altering catastrophes hit in just one day — including the loss of her parents in a tragic plane crash — 24-year-old Janie Whitman retreats to her family’s summer house in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Here, she tries to provide stability for her older sister Alyssa and two young nieces by cooking them amazing food. Through a mix-up with the alumni office at her parents’ alma mater, Janie meets a young high school guidance counselor named Rocky at a volunteer event, and their fast-tracked romance helps Janie to see possibilities beyond the life she had known just a few weeks prior. But with her ex-boyfriend (and former boss) making overtures beyond her wildest dreams, as well as Alyssa’s estranged husband willing to do whatever it takes to win her back, both sisters realize they need to focus on the big decisions they are facing together. Despite the obstacles in their way, Janie and Alyssa find self-realization and their respective second acts working hard at establishing a lasting memorial for their parents at their alma mater.

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Fishnets & Fantasies by Jane Doucet (Vagrant Press/Nimbus Publishing)

Wendy Hebb has been a fisherman’s wife for 40 years. She has also been a mother, a yoga instructor and a part-time soap maker. She loves her life in picturesque Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, but it’s just not enough anymore. With a burning entrepreneurial desire, she decides that when her husband Paul retires, it will finally be her turn to live out her dream. The catch: her dream is to open a sex shop. While Paul begrudgingly goes along with Wendy’s “half-cocked” idea, it’s out of a sense of guilt: a recently spilled secret has their marriage on the rocks. As soon as the townspeople get wind of Wendy’s plans, a whole other can of worms opens up — and Paul finds himself bait for the local rumor mill. It’s an irreverent story full of heart and humor, love and lust at any age, old grudges and older secrets, and the relationships that make all the awkward fumbling worthwhile.

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Luz by Debra Thomas (She Writes Press)

Winner of the 2020 Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction

Alma wishes her willful teenage daughter, Luz, could know the truth about her past, but her story holds secrets Luz should never know — particularly about the journey Alma took to the U.S. to find her missing father. In 2000, after the disappearance of her father who left Oaxaca to work on farms in California, Alma and her sister Rosa set out on a perilous trek north to find him. Along the way, they met a young man from Guatemala named Manuel, who joined them on their journey and with whom Alma fell in love. Together they continued north, encountering both kindness and cruelty. What happened once Alma reached the U.S. set the journey from one of despair to hope. Timeless in its depiction of the depths of family devotion and the blaze of first love, Luz conveys the plight of those desperate to cross the U.S. border with compassion and insight.

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Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman (She Writes Press)

In 1923, seventeen-year-old Esther Grünspan arrives in Köln “with a hardened heart as her sole luggage.” Thus begins a 22-year journey, woven against the backdrops of the European Holocaust and the Hindu Kali Yuga or “Age of Darkness,” when human civilization degenerates spiritually, in search of a place of sanctuary. Throughout it all, Esther masks her Jewish heritage while she navigates war-torn Europe and emigrates to India. Esther’s traveling companion and the novel’s narrator is Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God worshipped by millions for his abilities to destroy obstacles, bestow wishes and avenge evils. Impressed by Esther’s fortitude and relentless determination, Ganesha chooses to highlight her story with compassion, insight, and poetry because he recognizes it is all of our stories ― for truth resides at the essence of its telling. Weaving Eastern beliefs and perspectives with Western realities and pragmatism, Guesthouse for Ganesha is a tale of love, loss, and spirit reclaimed.

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More articles by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association

The Moments Between Dreams  by Judith F. Brenner

The Moments Between Dreams  by Judith F. Brenner

This novel is set in the 1940s and ‘50s, blending a backdrop of war, a pandemic of poliovirus, and a surge of domestic violence. The parallel with today’s scenario is immediate. The story follows Carol and her disabled daughter as they rally to gain liberties held back from women during those times. Carol was once a vibrant, confident young lady. That was her personality until she married Joe. His constant intimidation and violent temper shrink Carol’s confidence just as she tries to boost Ellie’s, a polio survivor facing discrimination. But Carol is determined to find her inner strength again to help her daughter and free herself from Joe’s grip, even if her husband threatens to kill her rather than let them go.


Crazy to Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

Crazy to Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

Forty-one years old, the last of her friends to marry and down to a size 12, Lauren Leo is in her gown and about to tie the knot. There’s just one thing missing: the groom. With one blindsiding text, Lauren is unceremoniously dumped at the altar. In the aftermath, her mother is an endless well of unsolicited advice (stay on your diet and freeze your eggs). Her sisters add to the Great Humiliation: one is planted on Lauren’s couch while the other is just too perfect. Picking her heart up off the floor, Lauren turns to her work in advertising as she gathers the courage to move on and plan her next step. What lies ahead is the road to self-acceptance and the long-lost conviction of being worthy. With a new way to measure love and success, Lauren chucks her scale and finds a second chance in the most unexpected place.


Nine Days by Judy Lannon

Nine Days by Judy Lannon

One phone call upends Sara Austin’s world. Out of town for a company conference, Sara gets a call informing her that her mother is in the hospital. As her reluctant Health Care Proxy, Sara must embark on this unwelcome journey, maneuvering the murky waters of dealing with an aging parent together with her siblings, each with plenty of baggage, helped only by humor and alcohol. But beyond her expectations, the journey turns out to be a blessing, gradually transforming her into a stronger and more integrated woman as she works through a lifetime of self-doubt and unworthiness. Instead of dwelling in the past and considering herself the product of divorce, narcissism and alcoholism, she learns to live in the present and appreciate her blessings.


The Model Spy by Maryka Biaggio

The Model Spy by Maryka Biaggio

Celebrated model Toto Koopman has it all. She models for Vogue magazine and Coco Chanel in 1920s Paris. But modeling doesn’t satisfy her. Fluent in six languages, adventurous and fascinated by world politics, she attracts the attention of Lord Beaverbrook, the William Randolph Hearst of England. She soon becomes his confidante, companion and translator, traveling and finding herself caught in the winds of an impending war. Beaverbrook introduces her to influential people, including a director at the British Intelligence Service, who schools her in espionage. When Germany invades Poland, Toto comes face to face with reality: either fight the Axis powers or lose the world she loves. She moves to Florence, joins the Italian resistance, and begins sending intelligence to London. But Mussolini’s Blackshirts and the Nazi’s military intelligence have her in their crosshairs and, as they pursue her, her courage is tested to the limit.


The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood

The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood

Based on a true story, The War Nurse is a sweeping historical novel set in WWI France. Superintendent of Nurses Julia Stimson must recruit 64 nurses to relieve the battle-worn British, months before American troops are ready to be deployed. She knows that the young nurses serving near the front lines would face a challenging situation, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that awaits when they arrive at British Base Hospital 12 in Rouen, France. The primitive conditions, a convoluted, ineffective system, and horrific battle wounds are enough to discourage the most hardened nurses. Julia can do nothing but lead by example — even as the military doctors undermine her authority and make her question her very place in the hospital tent. When trainloads of soldiers stricken by a mysterious respiratory illness arrive one after the other, overwhelming the hospital’s limited resources and threatening the health of her staff, Julia faces an unthinkable choice — to step outside the bounds of her profession and risk the career she has fought so hard for, or watch the people she cares for most die in her arms.


Landscape of a Marriage by Gail Ward Olmsted

Landscape of a Marriage by Gail Ward Olmsted

New York, 1858: Mary, a young widow with three children, agrees to marry her brother-in-law Frederick Law Olmsted, who is acting on his late brother’s deathbed plea to “not let Mary suffer.” But she craves more than a marriage of convenience and sets out to win her husband’s love, sharing his vision to transform the American landscape. Mary joins Fred on his quest to create a “beating green heart” in the center of every urban space, transform the American landscape, starting with Central Park in New York. Over the next 40 years, Fred and Mary are inspired to create dozens of city parks, private estates and public spaces. Based upon real people and true events, this is the story of Mary’s journey and personal growth and also of the challenges inherent in loving a brilliant and ambitious man.


First Course by Jenn Bouchard

First Course by Jenn Bouchard

When four life-altering catastrophes hit in just one day — including the loss of her parents in a tragic plane crash — 24-year-old Janie Whitman retreats to her family’s summer house in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Here, she tries to provide stability for her older sister Alyssa and two young nieces by cooking them amazing food. Through a mix-up with the alumni office at her parents’ alma mater, Janie meets a young high school guidance counselor named Rocky at a volunteer event, and their fast-tracked romance helps Janie to see possibilities beyond the life she had known just a few weeks prior. But with her ex-boyfriend (and former boss) making overtures beyond her wildest dreams, as well as Alyssa’s estranged husband willing to do whatever it takes to win her back, both sisters realize they need to focus on the big decisions they are facing together. Despite the obstacles in their way, Janie and Alyssa find self-realization and their respective second acts working hard at establishing a lasting memorial for their parents at their alma mater.


Fishnets & Fantasies by Jane Doucet

Fishnets & Fantasies by Jane Doucet

Wendy Hebb has been a fisherman’s wife for 40 years. She has also been a mother, a yoga instructor and a part-time soap maker. She loves her life in picturesque Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, but it’s just not enough anymore. With a burning entrepreneurial desire, she decides that when her husband Paul retires, it will finally be her turn to live out her dream. The catch: her dream is to open a sex shop. While Paul begrudgingly goes along with Wendy’s “half-cocked” idea, it’s out of a sense of guilt: a recently spilled secret has their marriage on the rocks. As soon as the townspeople get wind of Wendy’s plans, a whole other can of worms opens up — and Paul finds himself bait for the local rumor mill. It’s an irreverent story full of heart and humor, love and lust at any age, old grudges and older secrets, and the relationships that make all the awkward fumbling worthwhile.


Luz  by Debra Thomas

Luz  by Debra Thomas

Winner of the 2020 Sarton Award for Contemporary Fiction Alma wishes her willful teenage daughter, Luz, could know the truth about her past, but her story holds secrets Luz should never know — particularly about the journey Alma took to the U.S. to find her missing father. In 2000, after the disappearance of her father who left Oaxaca to work on farms in California, Alma and her sister Rosa set out on a perilous trek north to find him. Along the way, they met a young man from Guatemala named Manuel, who joined them on their journey and with whom Alma fell in love. Together they continued north, encountering both kindness and cruelty. What happened once Alma reached the U.S. set the journey from one of despair to hope. Timeless in its depiction of the depths of family devotion and the blaze of first love, Luz conveys the plight of those desperate to cross the U.S. border with compassion and insight.


Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman

Guesthouse for Ganesha by Judith Teitelman

In 1923, seventeen-year-old Esther Grünspan arrives in Köln “with a hardened heart as her sole luggage.” Thus begins a 22-year journey, woven against the backdrops of the European Holocaust and the Hindu Kali Yuga or “Age of Darkness,” when human civilization degenerates spiritually, in search of a place of sanctuary. Throughout it all, Esther masks her Jewish heritage while she navigates war-torn Europe and emigrates to India. Esther’s traveling companion and the novel’s narrator is Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God worshipped by millions for his abilities to destroy obstacles, bestow wishes and avenge evils. Impressed by Esther’s fortitude and relentless determination, Ganesha chooses to highlight her story with compassion, insight, and poetry because he recognizes it is all of our stories ― for truth resides at the essence of its telling. Weaving Eastern beliefs and perspectives with Western realities and pragmatism, Guesthouse for Ganesha is a tale of love, loss, and spirit reclaimed.


Women's Fiction Writers Association

The Women's Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) was founded in 2013 as a professional, enriching, supportive and diverse international community for writers of women’s fiction. Now over a thousand members strong, WFWA is the premier organization for women's fiction. It is a volunteer-run, welcoming community that purposely fosters a climate of inclusion and opportunity. Whether you are an aspiring, debut or multi-published author, WFWA offers resources to help you improve and succeed. Learn more at womensfictionwriters.org, and follow WFWA on Twitter (@WF_WRITERS), Facebook and on Instagram (@womensfictionwriters).

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