Passes the "Bechdel Test" Public

Created by Phil in SF

This list contains books that:

  • have at least two women in them,
  • who talk to each other,
  • about something other than a man.

Wikipedia has a decent intro on the origins of the metric: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test

Beware that this test is very limited in probative value. "The Bechdel test only indicates whether women are present in a work of fiction to a certain degree. A work may pass the test and still contain sexist content, and a work with prominent female characters may fail the test." This is just one thing a person may want to consider in their reading. There are many others.

I (@kingrat@sfba.club) track this in my reading as a check to make sure I am including reading that includes non-token female characters because American publishing often overly focuses on men's stories, and that is quite often reflected even more …

  1. An Unbreakable World by 

    If something seems too good to be real, you’ve got to get out of there.

    That’s the rule that …

  2. The Fortune Seller by 

    No rating

    Yellowjackets meets The Cloisters in this beguiling coming-of-age story about class, reinvention, and destiny, set against the backdrop of two …

  3. Bunny by  (Bunny, #1)

    No rating

    Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren …

  4. Wool by  (Silo, #1)

    No rating

    The first book in the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling trilogy, Wool is the story of mankind clawing for survival …

  5. In the Moon’s House by 

    No rating

    A new Lady Astronaut story! Dawn struggles to fit in with the rest of her team--the backup crew for the …

  6. The Alice Network by 

    No rating

    In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life …

  7. The Worst Best Man by 

    No rating

    Mia Sosa delivers a sassy, steamy #ownvoices enemies-to-lovers novel, perfect for fans of Jasmine Guillory, Helen Hoang, and Sally Thorne!

  8. Freshwater by 

    No rating

    The astonishing debut novel from the acclaimed bestselling author of The Death of Vivek Oji, You Made a Fool of …

  9. The Vanishing Half by 

    No rating

    From The New York Times-bestselling author of The Mothers, a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who …

  10. Those Beyond the Wall by  (The Space Between Worlds, #2)

    Faced with a coming apocalypse, a woman must reckon with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable …

  11. Akata Witch by  (The Nsibidi Scripts, #1)

    No rating

  12. The Mirror Empire by  (The Worldbreaker Saga, #1)

    No rating

    On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death …

  13. The Horizontal Man by 

    No rating

    No man was meant to witness this and live

    He told her, "You're not well. I'll wake you home." …

  14. Empire Ascendant by  (The Worldbreaker Saga, #2)

    No rating

    Loyalties are tested when worlds collide…

    Every two thousand years, the dark star Oma appears in the sky, bringing …

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