Famous female British writers play a major role in the history of literature and culture. Regrettably, with heavy odds stacked against them for most of our literary history. You might already anticipate reading about your favourite female author in this article and, perhaps, sample works from these others:
| 👩Author | 📆Vitals | 📚Style/genre | 📗Select titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jane Austen | 1775 - 1817 | Novels | Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park and others |
| Mary Shelley | 1797 - 1851 | Gothic horror, Science fiction | Frankenstein, Mathilda, The Last Man, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck |
| The Brontë Sisters | 1816 - 1845 | Novels | Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Tenant of Windfell Hall |
| Mary Ann Evans | 1819 - 1880 | Novels | Adam Bede, Silas Marner, Middlemarch, Scenes of Clerical Life, The Lifted Veil |
| Virginia Woolf | 1882 - 1941 | Modernist | The Voyage Out, Mrs Dalloway, The Waves, The Years |
| Agatha Christie | 1890 - 1976 | Mystery | Miss Marple series, Hercule Poirot series, Tommy and Tuppence series |
| Daphne du Maurier | 1907 - 1989 | Novels | Rebecca, The Scapegoat, The House on the Strand, Rule Britannia |
| PD James | 1920 - 2014 | Novels | Adam Dalgliesh series, Cordelia Gray mysteries, The Children of Men, |
| Hilary Mantel | 1952 - 2022 | Historical fiction | Thomas Cromwell series, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, Fludd, An Experiment in Love |
| J. K. Rowling | 1965 - present | Fantasy, Novels | Harry Potter series, The Casual Vacancy, The Ickabog, A Love Letter to Europe |
| Zadie Smith | 1975 - present | Novels | White Teeth, The Autograph Man, Swing Time, The Fraud |
| LJ Ross | 1985 - present | Thriller | DCI Ryan series, Doctor Gregory series, Summer Suspense series |
Jane Austen
Greg Buzwell, himself an author, penned an article for the British Library. It contained an outrageous but true assertion: “In the late 18th and 19th centuries, writing as a profession was largely considered an activity unsuitable for women.” Jane Austen's life and work fell precisely within that timeframe.
Jane was the seventh child and the second of two daughters born into the Austen family. The clan had been wealthy at one time, but this generation had fallen into genteel poverty. Still, this was a close-knit family. Jane said her older sister, Cassandra, was her best friend; indeed, they did everything together.
The girls left together to study at Oxford (1785-86). This was a short stint away from home, as the school fees proved too steep. Outside that brief foray into formal education, Jane remained in the famly fold all her life.
She taught herself grammar and composition by studying her brothers' and father's books
Jane published her first novel in 1811, thanks to her brother’s connections with a publisher. Sense and Sensibility was credited as written “By a Lady”. When Pride and Prejudice published (in 1813), the author tag said “By the author of Sense and Sensibility”.
Much as you might admire Jane's dedication to learning, you don't have to go it alone, like she did. English tuition classes cover a wide range of language skills, from reading and writing to speaking and listening.
The Brontë Sisters
We did not like to declare ourselves women ...
Charlotte Brontë
The Brontë family is as remarkable for its literary output as for its tragedy. Theirs was a close-knit clan of middling means. The children entertained themselves with oral storytelling and the toys their father gifted them. The family's three most famous members were Charlotte, Emily and Anne.
Literature cannot be the business of a woman’s life, and it ought not to be.
Robert Southey, poet laureate
The sisters published their work under pseudonyms: Currer (Charlotte), Ellis (Emily), and Acton (Anne) Bell, to boost their chances at publication. This practice was not uncommon, as the literary world was not welcoming to female voices.
This discrimination added insult to the tragedy of bad health and early death that stalked this family.
The sisters' two eldest siblings died when they were 10 years old. Their mother died when Anne, the youngest, was a year old. All of them died around their 30th year save for Charlotte, who passed when she was 38. The clan's patriarch survived all of this children.
Mary Ann Evans
You likely know this Victorian-era writer by her pen name, George Eliot. She was prolific in her writing, publishing poetry, novels, and well-researched journalistic pieces. Like the Brontë sisters, she was compelled to publish under a man's name, lest her voice never be heard.
Mary Ann was scandalous in more than her choice of career. She lived with a married man for nearly a quarter-century, even as he stayed married to his wife. After he died, Mary Ann married a much younger man.
From an early age, nobody in her family considered her marriage material; her looks were presumably too plain to attract a husband. That and her voracious intellect compelled her father to invest in her early education.
'George Eliot' Fast Facts
'George' She produced 7 novels, four short story and novella collections, and a record amount of poetry. All that was on top of her work as a journalist and translator. Of her work, Middlemarch stands out, as it was published in instalments - thus, critiqued in real-time, as it was being written.
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley ranks among the famous female British authors for her remarkable work, Frankenstein. She wrote it on a dare while still a teenager. She too was a prolific writer, but this is the title we immediately associate with her name.
This author comes from a long line of rebellious, society-changing women. Her mother was the author and women's rights advocate, Mary Wollstonecraft. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, was her aunt.
The fact that this novel was written in the early 1800s is remarkable. In creating Frankenstein’s monster, Shelley laid the groundwork for new genres, including Gothic horror and Science Fiction.
Born: August 1797, in London
Died: February 1851, in London
Married to: Percy Bysse Shelley
Known for: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus and other works
Footnote: taken seriously as a writer, but her political edges were overlooked or dismissed.
Mary did not lack for subjects to write about. Besides her magnum opus, she produced five more novels and two travel anthologies. She co-wrote one of them with her husband, titled History of a Six-Week Tour.
Somehow, rumours still persist that her husband was responsible for much of the writing. No proof of such exists, as the novels' writing style, choice of words, and tone reflect Mary's style.
Virginia Woolf
Virginia was born into a large blended family which, by all accounts, was stable and happy. Much was made of her mental health; critics often paint her as a tragic heroine. She was indeed tragic, as her mother, father, and brother died in short order, while she was still very young. Her older sister's passing, when Virginia was just 15, wrung from her her first expression of suicide.
People buy more postcards of Virginia Woolf than of any other person.
Virginia Woolf is tops among famous female British writers. She wrote numerous essays throughout the early 20th century, including A Room of One’s Own. This essay speaks of the injustice and suppression of female writers. By contrast, To the Lighthouse reflected her more relaxed persona, while still being mildly political.
This culturally relevant tome expresses Woolf’s thoughts on gender equality, relationships, and the natural world. A Room of One’s Own, written just two years later, became a manifesto for female authors.
Agatha Christie
When talking about prolific and influential British female writers, the conversation invariably turns to Dame Agatha Christie. We've been commenting on author output this entire article, but none of the writers mentioned so far could match Agatha Christie.
Besides her mysteries, Dame Christie produced 14 short story collections and seven plays. She cultivated her fertile imagination at an early age, as the family's youngest child. She was a precocious reader and eager student, favouring maths, in particular.
Daphne du Maurier
Unlike other authors featured so far, Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) grew up in show business. Both her parents were 'theatre people'; her father an actor-manager and her mother, an actress. She was the second of three children.
Other than show business and a creative pedigree, Daphne's life was wholly conventional. She married in 1932, and joined the aristocratic class once her husband was knighted.
She shunned the limelight whenever possible, seldom giving interviews and avoiding public appearances.
Du Maurier resented being pigeonholed as a romantic author. Her novels seldom ended happily and, though they included romance, they were sinister in tone and touched on the supernatural. Her most famous works include Rebecca, a haunting psychological thriller set in a grand English estate; Jamaica Inn, a dark tale of smuggling and mystery on the Cornish coast; and My Cousin Rachel, a suspenseful story of love, suspicion, and betrayal.
PD James
Phyllis Daphne (PD) James entered the world in 1920, a time when higher education for girls was often deemed unnecessary. Her father believed that, forcing young Daphne to leave school when she was 16.
The driving reason for that sudden leaving was her mother's passing. Our future author stayed home to take care of her younger siblings and the house. She found work in a tax office, contributing what she could to keep the household afloat.
She saw for herself a life of practicality and convention. PD married in 1941, settling into her role as a wife and mother of two daughters. However, when her husband returned from the war mentally broken, she realised she was on her own.
Hilary Mantel
Dame Hilary Mantel (1952-2022) led a completely conventional life with unconventional aspect. Born into a stable, comfortable family, she was the family's eldest child and the only daughter. When she was seven years old, she learnt - in a rather dramatic fashion, that appearances don't always tell the whole story.
Hilary read law at the London School of Economics and the University of Sheffield. She married at 21 years old, and travelled with her husband around the world for his geology work. Thus began her writing career, which she embraced with gusto.
3 Cromwell books
- Wolf Hall
- Bring Up the Bodies
- The Mirror & The Light
16 Other Titles, including:
- Every Day is Mother's Day
- Learning to Talk
- Giving Up the Ghost
- The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
7 Novels, including:
- Fludd
- A Place of Greater Safety
- An Experiment in Love
- The Giant, O'Brien
- Beyond Black
J. K. Rowling
As a contemporary author of global renown, much of Ms Rowling's journey is already known. Today's social media platforms further communicate her ideas directly to her audience. This has led to more than a bit of controversy, but most of her legal trouble sprang from the Harry Potter series.
A flexible English tuition schedule allows students to choose convenient times for their lessons.
Zadie Smith
Zadie's childhood dream was jazz; she aspired to a career in music. However, she didn't make the cut when she auditioned for the Cambridge Footlights. In the meantime, her student articles, published in The Mays Anthology, were gaining a lot of attention. Soon, she landed a publishing contract.
Her award-winning debut novel, White Teeth, is a stunning example of contemporary writing. It spans generations and takes an in-depth look at colonialism, race, and many other societal issues.
According to Penguin Books, Zadie Smith is no longer a big fan of the novel, but it has helped to catapult this talented writer to success. Today, she mentors future writers as a tenured professor at New York University. Despite her American connection, she continues to shape the future of British literature.
LJ Ross
This British thriller writer, born in 1985, might be the most prolific author on our list. She published her first book in 2015 and has averaged three books per year ever since. She divides her creativity into three series.
Alexander Gregory Thrillers
- 6 books, to date
- emphasis on forensic psychology
- global setting
DCI Ryan Mysteries
- 23 books, to date
- mystery-romance, with suspense
- set in Northumbria
Summer Suspense Mysteries
- 4 title, to date
- revolves around suspense and ordinary living
- set in Cornwall
British Women Authors
British Female authors are not just cultural icons; they are trailblazers. They carved out their space in a male-dominated field, against all opposition. Their struggle resonates with us all, reminding us to never take equality for granted.
These women are more than writers; they are role models and agents of change. Their contributions continue to inspire the push for a world where every voice will be heard. A quick search for English tutor near me will show you how you can follow in their footsteps.
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