Top 10 Literary heroines
1) Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennett is surely everyone's favourite heroine. Feisty yet fun, opinionated yet willing to admit she's wrong. More importantly she tames the very proud and prejudiced Mr Darcy, bringing him to his knees and making this thrillingly arrogant man propose not once, but twice.
2) Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte. Jane, the eponymous heroine was my first encounter with the underdog in literature. Plain and overlooked, Jane is surely the girl many a gawky teenager identifies with and the closing line "Reader, I married him" is the ultimate answer to the more glamorous girls.
3) Love in a Cold Climate - Nancy Mitford. Fanny, the narrator is not necessarily the heroine of this novel, but the girl I liked most. Her outsider's view gives her the sharper perspective and although Linda or Polly are more dashing and had fascinating lives, did one actually want to be them?
4) Harriet - Jilly Cooper. My favourite comfort read and the most lovable of heroines. Badly treated by her cad of a boyfriend who leaves her not only deserted but pregnant, she finds love in the arms of her difficult, but handsome employer in his huge northern pile. So much fun and utterly un-put-downable, particularly when skiving off work with a hangover.
5) Emma - Jane Austen. Am I allowed two by Austen? Tempting to put all six in. Emma is a girl who badly needs a job, something sadly unavailable to a girl of her class in her day. Instead she pours her considerable talents into organising the love lives of others - to disastrous effect. Flawed, but oh so likeable.
6) How to be Good - Nick Hornby. Katie Carr, unlike Emma, has far too much to do. This GP and mother of two is also juggling an idiot of a husband who's social conscience leads him to invite the homeless to stay and give away his children's toys. She surely has every woman's sympathy and Hornby writes brilliantly as a woman.
7) Anna Karenina - Tolstoy. A hugely tragic heroine who's terrible downfall is brought about purely by love. We cringe as she descends further and further down the path of self-destruction but sympathise hugely. Who hasn't been Vronsky'd once in their life?
8) Frenchman's Creek - Daphne De Maurier. Not a downtrodden underdog of a heroine this time, really rather a characterful, head tossing one, who keeps the sexy Frenchman at bay until she actually can't resist him any longer. Wonderful Cornish setting and utterly romantic.
9) The Wonder Spot - Melissa Bank. Sophie Applebaum is an enchanting ingenue struggling to be a good Jewish girl but her heart isn't in it. She falls in love constantly but can never quite decide who she likes best, if anyone at all. Such a confused heroine and one I like enormously.
10) Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy. Bathsheba is surely the girl we'd all like to be. Showing all those men how to do it, running a farm and kicking the blokes into touch. Yes OK she gets it wrong and falls for the wrong people, but she marries the right man in the end.
Thank you, Catherine!
My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott (1st August, Trade paperback £12.99/ebook £7.99, Michael Joseph)
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