Fans pick 100 books like Lady MacBethad

What’s better than a strong female lead character? A whole cast of them! A group of servants gang together to pull off the ultimate heist, clearing an entire house during a party. How audacious is that?! As soon as I read that premise, I had to find out how on earth they would pull it off.

Rather like an Edwardian, all-women Ocean’s Eleven, the plot has clever twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. I really enjoyed getting to know each one of the gang, too, as they’re all so different, and the book as a whole was such a refreshing take on both historical fiction and the heist genre. 

From the very first page of sublime writing, I knew I would love this story. Set in 1839, it features a lot of gothic tropes that really appeal to me: a creepy house, a cemetery, murder, and a charming man who can’t be trusted. But most of all, I loved the lead character, Bonnie–although I didn’t always like her!

Bonnie is a head-strong young woman whose life has been mapped out for her by men–her father, the ancient rector who ‘fell in love with her’ when he baptized her as a baby, and the charming, dangerous Crawford. I felt her frustration, desire for more, anger at never being listened to, and fear. However, clever, ambitious Bonnie is willing to do whatever it takes to survive–and thrive.

Call me strange, but I love a book that walks a moral tightrope. This book does just that because it tells the fictionalized but true story of Guilia Tofana, the first documented female serial killer in history.

What she does is abhorrent: poisoning men. But it’s why she did it that caught my interest because she killed men who beat and brutalized their wives, and she operated at a time when there was no redress for these women.

All out of options, desperate, and in terror of their lives, they would turn to Guilia. I found myself both repelled by her and drawn to her, and I couldn’t put this book down until the final page…

At first glance, this may seem like a strange choice for this list of books featuring fierce female lead characters, given the storyline of a woman having an affair with a sculptor who makes her his muse. However, I fell in love with the writing, which is so evocative that I could almost smell the baked air of 17th-century Rome and feel the uneven cobbles beneath my feet.

But as the story developed, I loved the character of Costanza more…and as the plot played out, I almost howled in anger at what she endured. This is another story based on real people, and once I had finished it, I not only read the author’s note but did some Googling (I adore a book that makes me want to find out more!). My admiration for the strength of Costanza grew even greater when I saw what she went on to become.

While I’ve enjoyed most of Irvine Welsh’s books, this one (a collection of short stories) is my favorite because it accurately crystallizes a particular culture, place, and time.  The stories are set in Edinburgh and its environs, where I lived in a nearby village. My familiarity with the settings made this book feel intimate, sometimes unsettlingly so. I love the way each story blends the real and the surreal. 

There are drugs and booze galore, of course, as well as brutality and revenge, but the author’s savvy wit and incisive dialogue give these tales gravitas, authenticity, and philosophical depth. I laughed when a couple of years ago, I witnessed “Scotland’s top cop” (in the spoof police documentary Scot Squad) sum up Irvine Welsh’s written output as “monkey gibberish”—the barely concealed glee with which that phrase was delivered by comedian Jack Docherty (in deadpan style as the character Cameron Meikelson) tickled… show more.

This book contains tough questions that I have struggled with in the past like, “Why would God allow this to happen?” “Does God see me?” “How can God use this for His glory?” I found comfort in these pages. I learned the struggle of many during the Jacobite uprising—something I knew precious little about, and I have Scottish heritage!

Laura always transports me into history, and I love how she combines stories of struggle with hope. I always walk away from her books with new knowledge of history and encouragement for my own life. Besides, I can never say no to a good romance!

The beauty of this novel is that it takes sweeping historical change – the Highland Clearances of Scotland – and manages to make history intimate, showing the impact of events on one vulnerable old woman. In the nineteenth century, much of rural Scotland was forcibly "cleared" of people to make room for sheep grazing. Outside of Scotland, this great tragedy of Scottish history is not as well known as it should be, and neither is Smith’s book.

I love its deliberately naïve style, as we see the world through the old woman’s eyes and feel her pain as history crashes down on her. It’s full of the beauty of the natural world, but it’s also chilling, as it demonstrates the indifference of outsiders to a long-established way of life. 

I love this—Tom’s only published novel—not just because of the author’s impressive command of brevity (a prolific poet and short-story writer, he is a master of saying more with less) but also because his poet’s love of language shines through in the dialogue: each character has unique verbal habits and idiosyncrasies, just as people in real life have. Tom’s characters are the sort of folk I want to hang out with: philosophers, all; originals; one-offs; salt of the Earth. 

There’s also a wolf angle. Wolves have always resonated with me. As a child, I photographed them (mainly wildlife parks) wherever I could. In Nahatlatch Valley, British Columbia, where I holidayed with my family when I was seven, I lay in bed in the log cabin each night, howling along with the wolves whose song filled the forest outside. 

As a nineteen-year-old on holiday in Spain, I was so drunk one… show more.

Fray is such an unexpected novel. It’s presented as a sort of ‘missing person mystery,’ but it’s actually quite an experimental and literary novel.

The whole story, written in often surreal fragments, takes place in the Scottish wilderness and is rife with unforgettable imagery. Ultimately, it’s a story about grief, and the fragmented narrative style perfectly suits this theme.

Rilke, the auctioneer, finds a collection of photographs that show the death of a young woman. He journeys into the dark heart of Glasgow–and his own desires–to find out who she is.

An amazing debut, looking at the subcultures and twisted alleyways that stitch together every big city. I was compelled by how far Welsh was prepared to go, depicting a city I thought I knew.