10 best books written by women: From Hilary Mantel to Sally Rooney

Ann Patchett’s novel about two siblings, their unusual childhood home and a past that they can’t let go was longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and we’re surprised it didn’t make the shortlist. Danny Conroy and his older sister Maeve grow up in The Dutch House, a grand mansion on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Their father, a self-made property magnate, is a distant figure and their mother has mysteriously walked out but the siblings are devoted to each other. But one day their father brings the ghastly Andrea home, along with Andrea’s two young daughters, and Danny and Maeve are forced to endure even greater sadness than before. Patchett writes beautifully about family, love and loss and the powerful bonds that bind us all. This is a novel that stayed in our minds long after we finished reading.

Fans have been eagerly anticipating the third installment in Susie Steiner’s Manon Bradshaw series and Remain Silent is definitely worth the wait. Manon, a detective inspector in the Cambridgeshire police, is a larger-than-life character – often rude, frequently chaotic but great at her job. When the body of a young migrant is discovered hanging from a tree there’s no signs of a struggle and no indication that his death was anything other than a tragic suicide – except for a note pinned to his trousers, written in Lithuanian and saying “the dead cannot speak”. Steiner combines compelling plots with astute social commentary and this is every bit as good as her first two Manon Bradshaw novels.

Abi Daré grew up in Nigeria and was inspired to write The Girl with the Louding Voice by her memories of the young, impoverished housemaids who worked for middle-class families in Lagos. Fourteen-year-old Adunni, her spirited heroine, has ambitions to become a teacher but after the death of her adored mother her father forces her into an abusive marriage with a local taxi driver who already has two wives and four children. When tragedy strikes she flees her husband and is sold as a domestic slave to a wealthy household in Lagos, only to suffer unspeakable cruelty all over again. Adunni’s humour and fierce determination to change her destiny shine through this remarkable debut novel.

Casey Peabody feels like she has the whole world on her shoulders. At 31, she’s living in a rented potting shed in Massachusetts, her mother has just died and she’s recovering from a devastating love affair. She makes ends meet by waitressing at a high-end restaurant but her life’s ambition is to get the novel she’s been writing for six years published. US writer Lily King has won a host of awards for her books and this wise, witty and generous-spirited novel about a struggling writer striving to get her voice heard, pay her bills and come to terms with her grief is a delight. She’s brilliant on the trials and tribulations of restaurant workers and the struggles of aspiring writers, complete with rejection letters and constant doubt that their novels are any good.