Female rage books

I have a thing about rage. Female rage, specifically. My favourite genre is ‘good for her’, both to read and to write (and to watch). Apropos of nothing(!), here are some of my favourites.

THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART by Monika Kim is an unhinged and uncomfortable horror novel, with themes of fetishism and female rage.

The SWEETPEA series by C.J. Skuse is one of my favourite featuring a female serial killer. Now a major Sky TV show, which is advertised as a ‘coming of rage story’ and differs somewhat from the books, but still keeps that sharp humour we know and love.

I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? You’ll be left with more questions than answers, but this is a book everyone should read.

I read ALL THE RAGE by Courtney Summers probably about a decade ago, and I still think about it pretty often. A powerful novel about a teenage girl who stays strong and speaks up, this is not just a #MeToo book, it’s a visceral indictment of rape culture and patriarchy.

ESTELLA’S REVENGE is a Great Expectations retelling with a twist. A dark, cunning novel with plenty of heart, giving us the story that’s needed telling for centuries.

A food critique who carves up and eats her male victims? I’m in! A CERTAIN HUNGER by Chelsea Summers is a delicious critique of gender and the female appetite.

THE CHANGE by Kirsten Miller is about three women who come into powers that means they can start to take matters into their own hands. Similarly, THE POWER by Naomi Alderman, now a major TV series on Prime, is about women across the globe waking up with powers that change the game.

CIRCE by Madeline Miller is a Greek retelling that’s actually feminist. Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor. Circe’s story is dark and bold and dripping with female rage. Similarly, I said that LILITH by Nikki Marmery was the book I’d been waiting my whole life for, and I really wasn’t exaggerating.

HOW TO KILL MEN AND GET AWAY WITH IT by Katy Brent is a razor-sharp, addictive romp that I genuinely couldn’t put down. (I’m looking forward to the sequel, I BET YOU’D LOOK GOOD IN A COFFIN, out in January 2025.)

NIGHTBITCH by Rachel Yoder didn’t wow me in the way I’d hoped – I felt like it could’ve gone way further, and been much more feral – but I saw the upcoming movie described as a comedy for women and a horror for men, which is absolutely the kind of messaging I can get behind.

As for my own books, THE DARKEST NIGHT (as Victoria Hawthorne) is full of ancestral female rage, told by three women from different generations of the same family. THE DIARY, my debut novel as Vikki Patis, deals with Lauren’s fury years after she was sexually assaulted, and is based on my own experiences. RETURN TO BLACKWATER HOUSE follows Kate, Lauren’s now-wife, and Rebecca, who has recently moved back to Cornwall and can no longer hide from what is haunting her. THE GIRL ACROSS THE STREET deals with abortion and domestic violence, and the importance of having an alibi when you kill a man…

I currently have one book on submission which is the ultimate female rage novel, told through the lens of the baobhan sith (more here!), and I’m just finishing a book about a ghost girl who falls in love with the female serial killer that’s just moved into her flat.

At a recent book event, someone asked about my male characters, and why I don’t write many good ones. ‘I don’t write men very well,’ I said, ‘I write them dead best.’ And that pretty much sums me up as a writer.