When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

                                                             

 Title: When Women Were Dragons

Author: Kelly Barnhill

Genre: Fantasy

Synopsis: 

"Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.

Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve." - Back Cover 

My Thoughts

I won this book from the publisher, Doubleday Books, in an Instagram contest, and it would not have been a title that I would normally have chosen off the shelf myself.  I found it a little slow to start and it took some time for me to grasp where it was going. 

Overall, I liked the idea of repressed 1950s women becoming dragons in order to live their best lives and came to love Alex and Beatrice and their unique relationship as cousins & sisters. It was not my favorite book that I have read recently, but it was interesting to step into a different genre for the first time in a while!

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!

To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.

                                To see more from the author, visit the website linked above

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

   

 

Title: Pope Joan

Author: Donna Woolfolk Cross

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Synopsis: "For a thousand years her existence has been denied. She is the legend that will not die - Pope Joan, the ninth-century woman who disguised herself as a man and rose to become the only female ever to sit on the throne of St. Peter.

Now in this riveting novel, Donna Woolfolk Cross paints a sweeping portrait of an unforgettable heroine who struggles against restrictions her soul cannot accept.

Brilliant and talented, young Joan rebels against medieval social strictures forbidding women to learn. When her brother is brutally killed during a Viking attack, Joan takes up his cloak - and his identity - and enters the monastery of Fulda. As Brother John Anglicus, Joan distinguishes herself as a great scholar and healer. Eventually, she is drawn to Rome, where she becomes enmeshed in a dangerous web of love, passion, and politics.

Triumphing over appalling odds, she finally attains the highest office in Christendom - wielding a power greater than any woman before or since. But such power always comes at a price...." - back cover 

My Thoughts

I loved this novel so much. I love that the author suggests that Joan was more than just a myth. I love the depiction of Joan's love of learning as a child and her time learning at the schola. I love that Gerold loves her for her intelligence and curiosity. I love that she wants the freedom to learn and speak her mind so much that she is willing to disguise herself as a man for years. I love that her intelligence and spirit garner the trust of so many people that they elect her pope. It is just so well done. It is at turns uplifting and heartbreaking. I could not put it down.

Comment below if you have read this book or have suggestions for others like it!

To buy this book from Amazon now, click on the image at the top of the post.

                                To see more from the author, visit the website linked above