The ten most attractive women in literature

Simon Akam's writing has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the New York Times Book Review, the Guardian, the Observer, the Washington Post, the Economist, the Times Literary Supplement, the Financial Times, the Independent, the New Statesman, the New Republic, the Literary Review, Intelligent Life and Tatler.

From his list of the ten most attractive women in literature, compiled for Slate:

Take Alejandra in Cormac McCarthy’s novel All the Pretty Horses. The daughter of a Mexican gentleman-rancher, she bewitches aspirant cowboy John Grady Cole. Alejandra, with “the nape of her neck pale as porcelain,” is beautiful, but what compels Cole—and readers—is her carefully modulated inaccessibility. She and Cole sleep together, before she honors her promise to her family to break off the affair. Alejandra therefore sits at the exact interstice of prohibition and possibility.

Read about the other women on the list.

All the Pretty Horses is among Meg Rosoff's top 10 adult books for teenagers.

--Marshal Zeringue