5 Books where women enact revenge on their abusers

When a line is crossed, sometimes the only course of action is revenge.

Women are often the victims of bullying, sexual assault, infidelity, and other abuses that go unaddressed by law enforcement and other support systems. When this happens, the survivors have a choice: move on through therapy and self-care or pursue revenge using all means at their disposal.

Below are just five books written by women featuring female characters who are fed up and out for vengeance. 

5 Books About Revenge

This dual-timeline novel centers on English professor Scarlett Clark and student Carly Schiller at Gorman University, a small liberal arts school in the northeast. Professor Clark with her dyed red hair, love of old poets, and illicit affair with her much-young male assistant is a fan of vigilante justice. She has caused the deaths of several unsavory men that have been ruled as accidents.

At the same university, Carly is starting her college career after leaving her abusive household where she and her mother kowtowed to her temperamental father. The shy, bookish Carly befriends her social butterfly roommate, Allson. As Carly blossoms on campus, a terrible event happens that changes the course of her life and association with Gorman.

Fargo inserts a showstopping reveal that brings these characters together in an unexpected way even as the narrative moves forward. In the last third of the book, Clark works on getting the ultimate revenge while evading suspicion as outsiders begin to investigate the deaths of many young men around Gorman’s campus. 

Fargo plays with how past trauma informs the present and what it means when women work together to take back their power. 

Set in 1950s Australia, Ham’s debut novel’s premise is about how class and gender enable people to be bullied and exploited beginning in childhood. Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage was born to an unwed mother in Dungatar, Australia, and received endless ridicule and physical attacks for being a bastard. An accident led to her being sent away where she learned how to be a seamstress.

When her mother falls ill, Tilly’s forced to return home and deal with the town’s dislike and resentment of her.

This culminates with her starting a business in town while being unfairly blamed for unfortunate happenings. With her efforts to reinvent herself and rise above her humble upbringing, Tilly decides the best course is revenge.

Jane, a self-aware sociopath, decides to pause her high-profile career to seek vengeance on the man who caused her best friend’s suicide. She moves to Minneapolis, takes a low-level job at an insurance company while developing an insecure, meek persona to attract attention from misogynist Steven.

The novel is narrated by Jane, who reflects on her upbringing, her detachment from her family and loyalty to Meg, as she orchestrates her plan to ruin Steven. Alternating between snarky observations and disturbing thoughts, romance writer Stone makes Jane a memorable character worth rooting for, despite her psychological problems.

This is the first in a two-part series about Jane. 

Lucy and Jake have been married for years and have two children. Lucy has been able to repress her anger and resentment at giving up her scholarly pursuits to keep their middle class home in working order. She agonizes over the children and ensures they have everything they need while feeling overwhelmed by motherhood.

Only when confronted with the knowledge of her husband’s infidelity does the dam break on her pent-up rage. To repent, Jake agrees that Lucy can hurt him three times. Hunter’s poetic storytelling filters in Lucy’s background as a survivor of an abusive household where she saw her father repeatedly hit her mother. This led her to take an interest in the mythical harpies, bird-like creatures with women’s faces, who take revenge on men who have committed crimes. With each act of retribution against her husband, Lucy loses more of herself and begins the metaphorical transformation into a harpy. 

Medeia and John are the perfect society couple until his affair comes to light. As the wife who’s transformed herself into a woman John can show off to his friends, Medeia has left her poverty-stricken past behind and learned to adjust to the affluent lifestyle.

Only after seeing John on a date with his younger secretary, Anna, does Medeia understand that her marriage isn’t the ideal she’s worked to make it. The ironclad prenuptial assures she gets no money or marital assets in the event of a divorce, so Medeia must turn to more creative means of assuring she gets her fair share and teaches John a lesson for his blatant infidelity.

Conclusion

These books represent the very tip of an enormous iceberg of fictional works exploring the subject of female revenge. I hope you find something that appeals to you and maybe discover a new author.

Let me know if you frequently read from this subgenre and what your favorite books are.

Check out the review of “How to Kill Your Family” for more tales of revenge.