Leading Ladies of Fiction Faves
English: “How dare I, Mrs Reed? How dare I? Because it is the truth.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I’ve noticed the books that hit my fave list share a commonality: spunky female protagonists
Lizzie Bennet: right smart with her retorts, and loves her trots about the countryside
Jane Eyre: determined and no one is going to door mat her anytime soon
Scout Finch: gotta love a girl who reaches for her overalls in times of stress
Katniss Everdeen: archer supreme, survivor, yet has compassion
Mattie (True Grit): can talk her way into and out of most anything; didn’t let an encounter with a rattler get her down
Hattie (Hattie Big Sky): took on Montana homesteading by herself!
Little Sister (Laddie): I’m pretty sure she and Scout are kindred spirits
Laura Ingalls Wilder: “stout as a Welsh pony”–that’s high praise
Antonia (My Antonia): sassy survivalist of the prairie
These ladies come from different time periods, different backgrounds, and different families, yet they all share the qualities of pluck. Pluck never goes out of style, at least not in novels.
Got any favorites from the list? Maybe you can share your own
Related articles
- Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson (chrisholliman.com)
- Katniss Everdeen (hot2molly.com)
- The Autumn of My Discontent (cricketmuse.wordpress.com)
Pam Webb 
What about Nancy Drew? I haven’t read any of these since I was a child, but I loved her adventures. Don’t know what they read like now.
Frankly, I never got into Nancy Drew, although I had girlfriends who collected the series. It might have something to do with figuring out the mystery five pages into the story. Then again, I suppose it really is rather plucky to have such a strong curiosity to search out answers.
Anne of Green Gables, too! Watching True Grit (the modern movie) was like watching Anne in a western. I was in seventh heaven. As a writer I’m struggling with creating a spunky female character who isn’t too unbelievably good or perfect 🙂
Anne definitely! I’ll have to make an addendum list🎈