“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
As we continue to strive for a world free from discrimination and stocked with opportunities, books remain a powerful tool for offering both illumination and inspiration. Join us at What We Reading as we spotlight the most empowering books about strong women from 2023. These narratives unfold triumphant tales, showcase incredible resilience, and delve into profoundly intimate stories of self-discovery. Through their pages, these stories blend captivating journeys with powerful themes and messages, helping us drive change and work towards a global society defined by equality and fairness.
Class: A Memoir Of Motherhood, Hunger, And Higher Education – Stephanie Land
From the bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a mother struggling to make ends meet as a housecleaner, Stephanie Land’s Maid was singled out by Barack Obama as ‘an eye-opening journey into the lives of the working poor’.
Land’s 2023 memoir, Class, follows her journey of escaping abuse and poverty. Graduating from college in her mid-thirties, Land details the constant barrage of obstacles she faced from her peers and professors, documenting the struggles of scraping by as a student and as a mother all whilst below the threshold of the poverty line. A heartbreaking and intimate portrayal of motherhood and how it can often collide with personal goals and professional desires, Land is once again superb at highlighting key issues at the core of modern welfare, whilst allowing her incredible resilience and strength to shine throughout.
Madonna: A Rebel Life – Mary Gabriel
A New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of NPR’s Best Books of the Year from award-winning biographer Mary Gabriel, Madonna: A Rebel Life chronicles the whirlwind rise and enduring legacy of one of the music world’s most incredible artists.
Through her permissive ideals and breathtaking talent, Gabriel covers how Madonna’s sudden emergence on the scene was the equivalent of Elvis or The Beatles as one of the most defining moments in music history. One of the books about strong women from 2023, A Rebel Life explores how Madonna’s global popularity quickly transcended the music industry, ushering in a new age where feminist principles could drive and speak to a new generation. Despite continuous criticism, her activism remained integral to her work and image, helping to push boundaries, promote equality and expression and forge one of the most provocative, visionary and lasting careers ever seen.
How To Say Babylon: A Memoir – Safiya Sinclair
Nominated for Best Memoir & Autobiography in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards, How to Say Babylon is a stunning account of one woman’s struggle to break free from her repressive upbringing and find her own identity as a poet and a woman.
Throughout her upbringing, Safiya Sinclair’s father was a volatile reggae musician with a fervent fixation on the Rastafari-held threat known as ‘Babylon’ – aka. The corrupting and immoral Western influences on purity. To keep Babylon away from his door, he forbade the women in his family from expressing, ideas, opinions, friends and identities. However, through the power of books, poetry and education, Sinclair chronicles her enlightenment and eventual reckoning with the culture and father who had attempted to keep her silenced. Delivered with the sort of stunning lyricism only a poet could conjure up, How to Say Babylon is a story of patriarchy, tradition, and a woman’s awakening to discover a power and a voice of her own.
Check Out These Books On Toxic Parents
Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life – Anna Funder
International lawyer, radio and television producer and award-winning author Anna Funder has always loved George Orwell. But, having devoured his works and the biographies tracing him, it is the life and times of his wife, Eileen, she pays homage in her 2023 biography, Wifedom.
Eileen O’Shaughnessy married Orwell in 1936. An accomplished writer herself, her work not only shaped Orwell’s, but her practical common sense was also responsible for saving his life. This begs the question why he went out of his way to write her entirely out of existence. Wifedom brings together newly discovered letters from Eileen to recreate this marriage to give readers an illuminating and intimate insight into one of the most significant literary relationships of the twentieth century. One of the most empowering books about strong women, Funder’s genre-bending memoir speaks to our attitudes in the present day as well as those held by those in the past.
Hijab Butch Blues – Lamya H.
When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realises she has a crush on her female teacher, she does all she can to cover up her attraction by acting like the class clown and overachiever. Having moved to the Middle East from South Asia, she documents how she has never felt like she belonged anywhere and that her dreams and desires didn’t matter.
Yet, after one Quran class, she begins to make sense of her struggles and identity, triumphing by comparing her existence to some of the book’s most profound and significant stories. From drawing on the faith shown by Nuh when constructing his ark to pondering whether Allah might be non-binary, Hijab Butch Blues is the intimate coming-of-age memoir from a queer hijabi Muslim immigrant that inspires in its messages of strength and hope.
Check Out The Best Books For Women In Their 20s
The Woman In Me – Britney Spears
A brave and astonishingly honest insight into pop superstardom, motherhood, family and survival, Britney Spears’ 2023 memoir certainly made a splash as one of the biggest books of the year. Having stood up and spoken in open court to the whole world, Spears’ candid honesty and vulnerability not only changed the course of her life but so many others around the world.
The Woman in Me reveals the incredible journey the pop icon has embarked on throughout her life. Presented with humour and passion, it demonstrates the power of music, love and hope from a woman who has finally been able to tell her own story, on her terms, for the very first time.
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir – Beth Moore
A New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestseller, All My Knotted-Up Life is a 2023 memoir from author, speaker and founder of Living Proof Ministries Beth Moore. Profoundly thoughtful, intensely vulnerable and disarmingly funny, Moore’s life not only provides one of the best books about strong women but also a candid look at the transformative power of faith.
Providing the first look behind the scenes into her life and ministry, Moore spares no details in the triumphs and tragedies that have lingered with her. Having established herself as a leading force for Bible studies for women on spiritual growth and personal development, All My Knotted-Up Life is a powerful portrait of strength and resilience and a reminder that we are never fully aware of someone’s full story.
The Many Lives Of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, And Healing – Lara Love Hardin
A shocking, honest and inspiring exploration of resilience and redemption, Lara Love Hardin chronicles her fall from perfect housewife to opioid addict and jailhouse shot-caller, and her incredible comeback as an acclaimed ghostwriter in her 2023 memoir, The Many Lives Of Mama Love.
Convicted of thirty-two felonies, Love Hardin provides a stunning insight into the dynamics and life behind bars, revealing everything from the intricate power balances to furniture being made out of tampon boxes. Over time, however, she explains how love and healing enabled her to climb the social ladder akin to how she had done on the outside. Finally, she reveals how freedom and forgiveness have helped map her life in the years since, whether it be through meeting Orpah, meditating with the Dalai Lama or co-authoring bestsellers with innocent men on Alambama’s death row.
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir – Maggie Smith
An unflinching look at what it means to write and live our own lives, You Could Make This Place Beautiful is the 2023 memoir by world-renowned poet, Maggie Smith. A potent examination of a woman’s love for her children, her art and herself, Smith begins with the disintegration of her marriage and the heartbreaks that followed. Delivered with the empathy and self-inquiry she has become known for, she provides the snapshots of her reckoning with patriarchy, traditional gender roles and the power dynamics that persist in even the most progressive of households.
Delivered with searing attention to detail with its language, Smith’s memoir is an examination of possibility and the ever-existing opportunity for change. She reveals how, even in the aftermath of gut-wrenching loss, power can be discovered and something beautiful can be created in its place.
Check Out The Best Memoirs Of All Time
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
