Most books portray women as either badass, cool girls or sophisticated, fragile beings. And if you’re tired of those books and reading about women as if they aren’t real, this list of books is for you! These books present women as women. Sometimes fragile, sometimes badass, but most times human — making mistakes, living life a little confused, and being unlikable like all of us are in some way or another. So, add these fictional books about complex women to your 2026 reading list.

1. Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

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Eileen is lonely, bitter, bored, and dreaming of escape, and she’s not interested in being charming about it. Working in a boys’ prison, she becomes entangled in something dark and deeply unsettling. This is a story of female ugliness, desire, resentment, and transformation. It’s uncomfortable, and that’s exactly why it’s brilliant.

2. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

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Keiko works at a convenience store and genuinely loves it, which horrifies everyone around her. This novel is about a woman who doesn’t fit the mould and refuses to conform just to make others comfortable. Quiet, strange, and oddly tender, it celebrates women who simply refuse to be rewritten.

3. A Good Indian Girl by Mansi Shah

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A story about what it means to be labelled “a good girl”, and what it costs. Family pressure, cultural tradition, and personal desire tug the protagonist in different directions until something has to give. It’s relatable, funny in places, aching in others, and spot-on about the tightrope many women walk between duty and selfhood.

4. Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave

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This one dives into three generations of Indian women, each carrying expectations like heirlooms they never asked for. Careers, marriages, motherhood, migration, and identity collide as they try to be “good” while wanting lives of their own. It’s warm and heartfelt, but it doesn’t shy away from the quiet rebellions women stage every day.

5. Girls Who Stray by Anisha Lalvani

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A sharp, witty exploration of women who dare to step outside the neat boxes society draws for them. Expect messy friendships, questionable choices, and the kind of female characters who don’t apologise for wanting more than they’re “supposed” to. It’s about straying from norms, expectations, and sometimes from yourself, and finding out who you really are on the other side.

6. My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

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A darkly funny, wicked little novel about two sisters — one responsible, one with an inconvenient habit of murdering her boyfriends. As bodies pile up, so do questions of loyalty, morality, and self-preservation. It’s razor-sharp, biting, and brilliantly honest about sisterhood, beauty standards, and the expectations placed on women.

7. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

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A woman decides the solution to her life is simple: sleep through it for a whole year. What follows is strange, bleak, hilarious, and unsettlingly relatable. This novel captures female apathy, depression, privilege, numbness, and the fantasy of opting out of everything. It’s not about being likeable; it’s about being painfully, brutally human.

8. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

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A cutting satire about racism, publishing, envy, and the uglier sides of ambition. When one writer dies, another steals her manuscript and her glory. The narrator is unreliable, maddening, insecure, and impossible to look away from. It’s a book about women behaving badly, and how the world rewards or punishes them for it.

9. The Book of X by Sarah Rose

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A surreal, haunting novel where a girl is born with her stomach twisted into a literal knot. Through bizarre, dreamlike imagery, it explores pain, womanhood, longing, and inheritance. It’s raw, lyrical, and strange in the best possible way — a portrait of female experience that feels both mythic and deeply personal.

Add these books to your 2026 TBR if you’re ready to read women as they actually are, not as the world insists they should be.

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Related: 7 Empowering Books That Will Give You A New Perspective On Life, Love, And Family

FAQs

Q1. How long are these books?

They vary, but most of them are short to medium-length novels and very readable.

Q2. Do these books have any violence or sexual descriptions?

Some do include dark themes, violence, or sexual content, as they portray women realistically. However, none is gratuitous.

Q3. Do I need to be interested in feminism to enjoy these books?

Not at all. They’re simply stories about women being real, flawed humans.

Q4. Are these suitable for beginners or casual readers?

Yes. Most are highly accessible, with engaging narratives and conversational writing styles.

Q5. Are these books part of any series?

No, all of them are standalone novels. You can pick up any one of them without reading anything else first.