Six bad girls of historical fiction

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Dell Villa tagged six historical novels that feature "rule-breaking, trailblazing, and nearly always scandalous women," including:

The Invention of Wings, by Sue Monk Kidd

Kidd’s latest epic accounts for about 40 years of slavery, oppression, and brutality in the American South, and is told in two distinct voices: that of a slaveholder, real-life historical figure Sarah Grimke, who became a Quaker and abolitionist after a painful upbringing on a Southern plantation, and the slave she’s given as a girl, Hetty “Handful,” created by Kidd. Inspired by Grimke’s uncommon fortitude in an era of American history that had no place for female independence, Kidd explains (in her notes following the novel) that she chose to recognize Grimke’s contribution to the abolitionist and women’s movements of the 19th century by creating a complex character who resides “at the intersection of history and imagination.”

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue