Strong, Intelligent Women

Lately, I've been reading a variety of books which feature strong, intelligent women in rather unconventional circumstances for their time periods: Tasha Alexander's two books (And Only to Deceive and A Poisoned Season) about a young widow named Emily, who decides to pursue a scholarly life while unraveling several suspicious murders along the way (set in England, Paris, and Greece); Madeleine E. Robins' two Sarah Tolerance mysteries (Point of Honour and Petty Treason) about a young "Fallen Woman" who decides she will do something useful and productive with her life by "making inquiries" (a private investigator) instead of becoming a whore--it also helps that she is quite skilled at fencing (set in London); Sybil Downing's Ladies of the Goldfield Stock Exchange (Women of the West series) in which 3 women on their own form their own stock exchange for the purpose of catering especially to women in a gold-mining town in Nevada in 1906 which is based on a true story [but I'm not recommending this one--had a very weak ending]; No Life for a Lady by Agnes Morley Cleaveland, a personal memoir of growing up with her brother and widowed mother trying to survive making a living on a ranch at the turn of the century in southwestern New Mexico...and that leads me to the current book I began last night....Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin.

Taking place in the year 1170-1171 in England, Dr. Vesuvius Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar of Salerno, Italy, (where women are allowed to study and practice medicine) is hired by King Henry II to find out who has brutally killed four children in Cambridge and absolve the accused Jewish population (the king wants the Jews protected because they provide 1/7th of his tax revenues). This book opens with a Canterbury Tale-like description providing an introduction to our cast of characters--an assortment of religious figures, two knights, and the female doctor with 2 male traveling companions. For those of you grounded in your English literature, I suspect you'll enjoy and appreciate this book.

Other books waiting to be read are: The Love-Artist by Jane Alison set in first century Rome about the poet Ovid's romantic relationship with Xenia, a young witch-healer who just happens to be the only literate person in her community; Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqui Village by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea which is an account of the author's two-year stay (which is also the first 2 years of her marriage) in a tiny village in southern Iraq in the 1950's where men and women live segregated lives; and A Bride Goes West by Nannie T. Alderson and Helena Huntington Smith which was published in the mid 1940's telling Nannie's story of her move from West Virginia to Montana in 1882 to start a little ranch.

Other series featuring strong, intelligent women with a sense of humor are Laurie R. King's 8-book Mary Russell series, Elizabeth Peter's 18-book Amelia Peabody series, Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart trilogy; Carole Nelson Douglas' 8-book Irene Adler series, and Alexander McCall Smith's 8-book No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.