A great book can take you on far away journeys, perhaps, even-to Oz. The March reading list offers a look at the world through women, and female characters.

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts | Historical Fiction

Finding Dorothy is the story behind the Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, told through the voice of the author L. Frank Baum’s wife, Maud. Written as fiction but based on research, it tells the familiar story of Dorothy’s love, loss, inspiration and perseverance.

Readers Recommend:
Finding Oz: How L. Frank Baum Discovered the Great American Story by Evan I. Swartz
The Real Wizard of Oz by Rebecca Loncraine
Baum’s Road to Oz edited by Nancy Tystad Koupal

That Churchill Woman by Stephanie Letts | Historical Fiction

This is the story of Winston Churchill’s scandalous, American mother, Jennie Jerome, one of history’s most remarkable women. The beautiful Lady Randolph Churchill lived an outrageously modern life, filled with controversy, passion, tragedy, and triumph.

Readers Recommend:
My Early Life: 1874–1904 by Winston Churchill
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
American Duchess by Karen Harper

Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber | Non-Fiction

For centuries people have suffered pain, guilt, and judgment as result of the Christian church’s toxic fixation on sex, the body, and physical pleasure. This Lutheran pastor calls for a new reformation, sharing stories and scriptures powerful enough to heal not only the ones who have been hurt, but also those who have done the hurting.

Readers Recommend:
Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans

Golden Child by Claire Adam | Fiction

Golden Child is both beautiful and unsettling; a resoundingly human story of aspiration, betrayal and love. This powerful and thought provoking novel, set in Trinidad, follows the lives of a family as they navigate impossible choices about scarcity, loyalty and love.

Readers Recommend:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
A Place for Us by Fatima Mirza
Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

More Than Words by Jill Santopolo| Fiction

More than Words is a bittersweet, reflective novel of romance, grief, loss, and self discovery. This tender novel about a woman at the crossroads after the death of her father and caught between the love of two men and how we choose which life we are meant to live.

Reader Recommend:
The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
One Day In December by Josie Silver
Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley

The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib | Fiction

This novel chronicles the pain of an anorexia’s distorted thinking and intense fear of food in a riveting diary-like structure. Seven women are at 17 Swann Street, a residential treatment facility, and each chapter is told from the patient’s point of view with alternating chapters.

Readers Recommend:
Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi
Winter Girls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Lovely Bones by Shelby Lamb

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin | Fiction | NYT Best Seller

The Last Romantics is a beautifully written tribute to the love between four siblings, a  compelling family saga that navigates us through 100 years of ever-changing relationships. Despite the title, this is not a romance novel, but is about love in its many different forms.

Readers Recommend:
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
Children’s Crusade by Ann Parker