Not a lot before the 1970s, wow, hard to even think of any. I feel like even George Sand and Jane Austen are hugely relationship-focused.
Maybe some ensemble pieces, like Mary McCarthy's "The Group" but I don't remember it very well. Maybe Lillian Hellman. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own.
Maybe Laura Ingalls Wilder. Anne of Green Gables.
Tillie Olsen, "Tell Me a Riddle"
in the 70s, Marge Piercy wrote a multi-character book about World War II, where I learned a lot more about the Pacific war than I had known before. It was both men and women, but, by the nature of the book, more of the men died.
Marilyn French, "The Women's Room".
Erica Jong tried, but she was pretty male-focused.
Vonda McIntyre, early feminist SF author. Also Johanna Russ.
"Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen"
Tamora Pierce, YA Fantasy books, published in the early 80s, great stuff.
no subject
Maybe some ensemble pieces, like Mary McCarthy's "The Group" but I don't remember it very well. Maybe Lillian Hellman. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own.
Maybe Laura Ingalls Wilder. Anne of Green Gables.
Tillie Olsen, "Tell Me a Riddle"
in the 70s, Marge Piercy wrote a multi-character book about World War II, where I learned a lot more about the Pacific war than I had known before. It was both men and women, but, by the nature of the book, more of the men died.
Marilyn French, "The Women's Room".
Erica Jong tried, but she was pretty male-focused.
Vonda McIntyre, early feminist SF author. Also Johanna Russ.
"Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen"
Tamora Pierce, YA Fantasy books, published in the early 80s, great stuff.
While trying to remind myself, I hit this Bibliography of Early Women Writers. It's got everyone from Hildegard of Bingen to Margaret Mead.