Part memoir, part literary analysis. Part self-help book, part writing guide. This book has a little bit of everything. Ellis journeys back in time and rereads some of her favorite heroines as an adult and analyses them in a feminist light. Connecting these to her own life events and the context in which she first read them, Ellis creates a very interesting look at how people change throughout life.

This is a great book. This is the book I needed to read as a woman, as a writer, as a feminist. Unlike many feminist analyses of media, instead of condoning various heroines outright, Ellis recognizes each literary woman’s flaws, but still sees them within the context of the time they were written, the author’s life, and why the heroine was important to her when she first read them.

The book is insightful and sensitive while still being analytical and thought-provoking. It is humorous, but still makes its readers think about what it means to be a heroine (or hero) in ones own story. A well-rounded piece of non-fiction.

This is a great read that is as entertaining as it is stimulating.