100 books like Women's Lives, Women's Legacies

By Rachael Freed,

Here are 100 books that Women's Lives, Women's Legacies fans have personally recommended if you like Women's Lives, Women's Legacies. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Legacy: A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing Personal History

Merle R. Saferstein Author Of Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. 1

From my list on legacy and legacy projects.

Why am I passionate about this?

In my 26 years as a Holocaust educator, I worked closely with hundreds of Holocaust survivors helping them to pass along their legacy of remembrance to thousands of students and teachers. When I retired, I developed and began teaching a course entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy®. Since 2012, I have taught 64 classes and have spoken to audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. My goal is to help people understand that how we live our lives becomes our legacy. I have worked with individuals at the end of their lives helping them to do sacred legacy work and have trained hospice staffs and volunteers to do the same.

Merle's book list on legacy and legacy projects

Merle R. Saferstein Why did Merle love this book?

In this book Linda Spence begins by explaining what our legacy is and how the story of one’s life is a priceless legacy which captures the individual’s essence. Spence answers the question of why write one’s life story and describes how doing so benefits both the recipients and writers themselves. She guides writers by providing a myriad of questions to answer which cover an entire life from childhood to old age. Pence encourages them to share reflections, wisdom, and experience, all the while writing from one’s heart. I have used this excellent guide for helping students write their legacies.

By Linda Spence,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Legacy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this practical guide to capturing those memories that have been stored away, Linda Spence provides the questions that are the keys to unlocking the memories that make up a life. Beyond the vital statistics are the personal stories that tell what it was like, what we did, and why we did it, how we feel about our choices, and what our circumstances were. Through encouraging coaching, shared memories, and open-ended questions, the process of producing a personal history becomes intriguing and engaging. With Legacy the possibilities expand: a personal record is preservedwith its myths, traditions, joys, pains, gains, and…


Book cover of So Grows the Tree: Creating an Ethical Will

Merle R. Saferstein Author Of Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. 1

From my list on legacy and legacy projects.

Why am I passionate about this?

In my 26 years as a Holocaust educator, I worked closely with hundreds of Holocaust survivors helping them to pass along their legacy of remembrance to thousands of students and teachers. When I retired, I developed and began teaching a course entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy®. Since 2012, I have taught 64 classes and have spoken to audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. My goal is to help people understand that how we live our lives becomes our legacy. I have worked with individuals at the end of their lives helping them to do sacred legacy work and have trained hospice staffs and volunteers to do the same.

Merle's book list on legacy and legacy projects

Merle R. Saferstein Why did Merle love this book?

Jo Kline Cebuhar gives the reader the historical background of the age-old tradition of writing  an ethical will in So Grows the Tree: Creating an Ethical Will. She explains how ethical wills pass along life lessons, values and beliefs, and hopes and dreams for the future generations. The book serves as a step-by-step guide to creating an ethical will but also leaves room for the reader to write notes along the way. In addition to writing ethical wills, Cebuhar also offers other suggestions for creating a legacy project, such as an embellished photo album, scrapbook, genealogy, and cookbook as well as a video or audio recording or a PowerPoint slideshow. I found this book to be extremely helpful in illustrating to my students the variety of ways these legacy projects communicate important messages to loved ones.

By Jo Kline Cebuhar,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked So Grows the Tree as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Your wisdom didn't come easy. It's taken a lifetime to validate your beliefs and values, to reflect on your life lessons and to envision your hopes for the future. In SO GROWS THE TREE, Jo Kline Cebuhar shows you how to create and share an Ethical Will, the unique expression of what you stand for.


Book cover of The Forever Letter: Writing What We Believe for Those We Love

Merle R. Saferstein Author Of Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. 1

From my list on legacy and legacy projects.

Why am I passionate about this?

In my 26 years as a Holocaust educator, I worked closely with hundreds of Holocaust survivors helping them to pass along their legacy of remembrance to thousands of students and teachers. When I retired, I developed and began teaching a course entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy®. Since 2012, I have taught 64 classes and have spoken to audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. My goal is to help people understand that how we live our lives becomes our legacy. I have worked with individuals at the end of their lives helping them to do sacred legacy work and have trained hospice staffs and volunteers to do the same.

Merle's book list on legacy and legacy projects

Merle R. Saferstein Why did Merle love this book?

While the art of letter writing has become a thing of the past, in The Forever Letter: Writing What We Believe for Those We Love Rabbi Elana Zaiman shows the reader how sharing insights and beliefs can have a profound effect on one’s family. She tells personal stories as well as those from others in the hopes of inspiring readers to transmit their life lessons and who they are in a forever  letter—something that can be passed down through generations of loved ones. Rabbi Zaiman suggests that the readers share their values in a letter so that it becomes a gift for both the writer and the receiver. After reading this book, I wrote a forever letter to my children and have encouraged my students to do the same for their loved ones.

By Elana Zaiman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Forever Letter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Connect with your family and friends in a meaningful way through the forever letter, a message to impart your values, articulate your feelings, and deepen relationships. Elana Zaiman transforms the little known Jewish tradition of writing an ethical will into an important tool for anyone to use. This simple and engaging book shows you not only the origins of this tradition, but also gives specific, practical guidance and encouragement on writing your own letter. You ll discover the author s personal stories; examples from her forever letter workshops; and related wisdom from literature, philosophy, and psychology. This book will lead…


Book cover of The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

Merle R. Saferstein Author Of Living and Leaving My Legacy, Vol. 1

From my list on legacy and legacy projects.

Why am I passionate about this?

In my 26 years as a Holocaust educator, I worked closely with hundreds of Holocaust survivors helping them to pass along their legacy of remembrance to thousands of students and teachers. When I retired, I developed and began teaching a course entitled Living and Leaving Your Legacy®. Since 2012, I have taught 64 classes and have spoken to audiences locally, nationally, and internationally. My goal is to help people understand that how we live our lives becomes our legacy. I have worked with individuals at the end of their lives helping them to do sacred legacy work and have trained hospice staffs and volunteers to do the same.

Merle's book list on legacy and legacy projects

Merle R. Saferstein Why did Merle love this book?

As a former college writing teacher, Sandra Marinella understands the value of writing one’s story. In The Story You Need to Tell, she recounts her personal journey with breast cancer and tells the stories of others who experienced their own illnesses and traumas. Throughout the book and with the help of writing prompts, Marinella guides and encourages readers to write their stories as an empowering way to heal. She demonstrates how this leads individuals to move toward a better and fuller self as well as to a new, hopeful, and resilient narrative. I recommend this book because it is an excellent guide to writing one’s story, which will eventually become part of that person’s legacy.

By Sandra Marinella,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Story You Need to Tell as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A practical and inspiring guide to transformational personal storytelling, The Story You Need to Tell is the product of Sandra Marinella’s pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, her years of teaching writing, and her research into its profound healing properties. Riveting true stories illustrate Marinella’s methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal. She also shares her own experience of using journaling and expressive writing to navigate challenges including breast cancer and postpartum depression. Each of the techniques, prompts, and exercises she presents helps us “to unravel the knot inside and to…


Book cover of Common People: The History of an English Family

Gareth M. Winrow Author Of Whispers Across Continents: In Search of the Robinsons

From my list on social and family history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I became interested in social and family history when my Turkish friend, Ahmet Ceylan, told me amazing stories about his family. An academic by training, I used my expertise in the history of Turkey to explore the archives and uncover extraordinary details about the lives of the Robinsons. My field research took me to the wolds of Lincolnshire, the side streets of Istanbul, and the foothills of the Himalayas. I am keen to learn more about my own family, and for my next book, I am exploring the lives of people who owned/occupied the land/property where I live in Oxford, UK.

Gareth's book list on social and family history

Gareth M. Winrow Why did Gareth love this book?

This book is more than just a history of the author’s family. It is full of reflections on life and on family and history in general. At times reading like a detective story, this book inspired me to write about family history. The author delves deep into her working-class origins and explores the lives of characters whose stories – much like the Robinsons in my own work - would have been lost if it had not been for the publication of this book.

By Alison Light,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Common People as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize

'Part detective story, part Dickensian saga, part labour history. A thrilling and unnerving read' Observer

'Mesmeric and deeply moving' Daily Telegraph

'Remarkable, haunting, full of wisdom' The Times

Family history is a massive phenomenon of our times but what are we after when we go in search of our ancestors? Beginning with her grandparents, Alison Light moves between the present and the past, in an extraordinary series of journeys over two centuries, across Britain and beyond.

Epic in scope and deep in feeling, Common People is a family history but also a new…


Book cover of Out of Egypt: A Memoir

Jonny Steinberg Author Of A Man of Good Hope

From my list on exile, refugees and people on the move.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2010, I met a Somali refugee in Cape Town. His name was Asad Abdullahi. He told the tale of his life with a richness bordering on genius and I was hooked. I spent the next two years tracing his childhood footsteps through the Horn of Africa, looking for anyone and everyone he had encountered. In the course of writing a book about him, I read countless other books about exile, migration, and human beings on the move. My five recommendations are among the books that helped me imagine the experience of exile best. 

Jonny's book list on exile, refugees and people on the move

Jonny Steinberg Why did Jonny love this book?

This is among the most exquisitely rendered memoirs I have ever read. It recounts Aciman’s boyhood in the cosmopolitan world of Alexandria, Egypt, in the 1950s, just before the ethnic nationalism of Egypt’s leader, Gamal Abdal Nassar, swept this world away. Every sentence exudes tender nostalgia for a vanished milieu. It is, profoundly, an exile’s book, mourning and celebrating a life that has been lost.

By André Aciman, André Aciman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Out of Egypt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This richly coloured memoir chronicles the exploits of a flamboyant Jewish family, from its bold arrival in cosmopolitan Alexandria to its defeated exodus three generations later. In elegant and witty prose, Andre Aciman introduces us to the marvellous eccentrics who shaped his life: the strutting daredevil, soldier, salesman, and spy; the two grandmothers, the Princess and the Saint, who gossip in six languages; and Aunt Flora, the German refugee who warns that Jews lose everything "at least twice in their lives." And through it all, we come to know a boy who, even as he longs for a wider world,…


Book cover of The Island

Barbara Josselsohn Author Of Secrets of the Italian Island

From my list on set on an intriguing island or coastline.

Why am I passionate about this?

A native of New York’s Long Island, I’ve always been obsessed with the shoreline. My best early memories are of traveling with my family to the eastern edge of Long Island for our two-week summer vacation. My parents didn’t earn a lot of money, and we didn’t vacation often, so those two weeks in August were heavenly. As an adult, I gravitate to coastlines and islands. I’ve always been a fan of books with a strong sense of place, especially when that place is the shore. And I loved setting my current book on an island in the Mediterranean, delving into the qualities and characteristics that make a coastline so evocative and so appealing. 

Barbara's book list on set on an intriguing island or coastline

Barbara Josselsohn Why did Barbara love this book?

Have your tissues ready!

Alexis, a present-day heroine, travels to her mother’s childhood home in Greece, intent upon learning the family’s hidden story. Arriving there, she spies the island of Spinalonga, once an actual leper colony. Hislop then switches time periods, taking the reader to the mid-twentieth century, when leprosy and war tore families apart.

I found Hislop’s writing gentle yet wrenching, and I was heartbroken by scenes between mothers and children who had to separate forever due to illness. But I was moved, too, by the strength, resilience, and capacity for love shown by many of the characters.

I enjoy novels that are based on history, with protagonists who are tested to their very limits. I won’t soon forget this book, and I bet you won’t either!

By Victoria Hislop,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An atmospheric, vibrant and moving first novel from an exciting new author. On the brink of a life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend, and promises that through her she will learn more. Arriving in Plaka, Alexis is astonished to see that it lies a stone's throw from the tiny, deserted island of…


Book cover of File Under Fear

Janet Few Author Of Sins as Red as Scarlet: a Devon Town in Turmoil

From my list on genealogical mystery novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

I inhabit the past. You may find me lurking in my four-hundred-year-old Devon cottage, or spot me thinly disguised as the formidable Mistress Agnes, a good wife of a certain age who leads a somewhat chaotic life during the mid-seventeenth century. I write, I read, I research, I share my passion, I write some more. My life revolves around reading, writing and researching history. Having spent the past forty-five years unravelling my own family’s story and loving both historical and crime novels, what could be better than a book that combines all these elements. I have to say that if genealogy was as dangerous a career as some of these books imply, no one would be advised to take it up!

Janet's book list on genealogical mystery novels

Janet Few Why did Janet love this book?

Probate genealogist, Anna Ames, is given the task of researching the history of the Draycott family. As she does so, she is drawn into the lives of this dysfunctional family, who are not as conventional as they seem. Her research unfolds against a background of the warm portrayal of Anna’s own family life with her husband, who has early-onset dementia, her teenage children, her poetry-loving father, and Bobble the dog.

By Geraldine Wall,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked File Under Fear as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Anna Ames is not pleased to be asked by her boss to write a profile of a wealthy local family instead of continuing with her usual probate research but the conventional, dull-seeming Draycott family turn out to be seething with secrets. As she discovers more about each one she is at first amused and then alarmed and finally horrified and saddened as she realises the true nature of her task. But when her own family are drawn into a scenario of crime and violence that she had never suspected existed on the streets of Birmingham and the quiet fields and…


Book cover of Ancestral Grimoire: Connect with the Wisdom of the Ancestors Through Tarot, Oracles, and Magic Create Your Personal Book of Shadows

Lisa Bonnice Author Of Castle Gate

From my list on exploring ancestral/generational trauma and healing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a program host with The Shift Network and have interviewed hundreds of experts on the topics of ancestral healing, mediumship, and the “veil between the worlds.” I was drawn to these topics because of my discoveries of ancestral trauma in my family tree, including an ancient curse and a fiery mine disaster. Eventually, I realized we ALL have generational trauma. Just watch the news—we’re all acting out from inherited trauma, and we need to heal our own stuff in order to heal the global condition. I feel like it’s my life’s work to heal my family’s trauma-based dysfunctions and spread the word to others doing the same work.

Lisa's book list on exploring ancestral/generational trauma and healing

Lisa Bonnice Why did Lisa love this book?

There are sooooooo many things to love about this book.

Personally, I love communicating with my ancestors via divination, and Nancy’s book is filled with magical ideas! Her suggestions on how to keep track of and journal the discoveries I’ve made were so helpful because I didn’t know how to organize what I was learning on my journey.

Finally, and most importantly, this book was a big validation that what I’m doing is real because others are doing the same work and having similar experiences. In other words, I’m not making it up.

By Nancy Hendrickson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ancestral Grimoire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?


“Hendrickson takes readers on a magical journey where they learn how to construct a personal Book of Shadows filled with ancestral wisdom.” —Theresa Reed, author of Twist Your Fate
 
Most of us know our immediate family and maybe even a generation or two beyond, but few of us are attuned to those who lived earlier. Many of us have forgotten how to keep our own stories alive. This is where the ancestors come in and where this book begins.

Ancestral Grimoire is a guide to reconnecting with your ancestors. It will show you how to access their unique wisdom—their magic!—and…


Book cover of Hiding the Past

Janet Few Author Of Sins as Red as Scarlet: a Devon Town in Turmoil

From my list on genealogical mystery novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

I inhabit the past. You may find me lurking in my four-hundred-year-old Devon cottage, or spot me thinly disguised as the formidable Mistress Agnes, a good wife of a certain age who leads a somewhat chaotic life during the mid-seventeenth century. I write, I read, I research, I share my passion, I write some more. My life revolves around reading, writing and researching history. Having spent the past forty-five years unravelling my own family’s story and loving both historical and crime novels, what could be better than a book that combines all these elements. I have to say that if genealogy was as dangerous a career as some of these books imply, no one would be advised to take it up!

Janet's book list on genealogical mystery novels

Janet Few Why did Janet love this book?

Peter Coldrick is a man without a past, that is until he hires forensic genealogist, Morton Farrier. There are those who will go to any lengths to ensure that Coldrick’s origins remain hidden. Morton’s investigations lead him into danger and make him realise that he needs to begin the quest to uncover the story of his own hidden past.

By Nathan Dylan Goodwin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hiding the Past as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Peter Coldrick had no past; that was the conclusion drawn by years of personal and professional research. Then he employed the services of one Morton Farrier, Forensic Genealogist – a stubborn, determined man who uses whatever means necessary to uncover the past. With the Coldrick Case, Morton faces his toughest and most dangerous assignment yet, where all of his investigative and genealogical skills are put to the test. However, others are also interested in the Coldrick family, people who will stop at nothing, including murder, to hide the past. As Morton begins to unearth his client’s mysterious past, he is…


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