Guest post written by author G.R. Macallister
G.R. Macallister also writes bestselling historical fiction under the name Greer Macallister. Her novels have been optioned for film and television. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Boston. Her latest novel Arca is out now.
Stories about queens make for great reading. The passion! The power! The occasional beheading! Certain royals from history have become well-covered territory, but at some point, you get a little tired of yet another take on Anne Boleyn. Right?
The women who rule the matriarchal Five Queendoms in my epic fantasy novels Scorpica and Arca are all fictional, but there are plenty of fascinating stories of royal women from across our world to be savored. Their stories are often best told in novels, since historical records of ruling women were often rewritten or even destroyed by the men who ruled after them. Here are five great novels about women rulers from history—and not a single wife of Henry VIII among them—to expand your TBR with other ways women rule.
Nefertiti, Queen of Ancient Egypt
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
Cleopatra gets all the press, but she was far from the only powerful female ruler of ancient Egypt. Nefertiti’s titles ran the gamut from “King’s Wife” to “Hereditary Princess” to “Lady of All Women,” but whatever her official position at any given time, she clearly held the reins of power and worked with her husband Pharaoh Akhenaten to lead their prosperous nation into a new future.
For a fictional take on Nefertiti—one that fills in the gaps in the historical record to tell a riveting story—you’ll want to pick up Michelle Moran’s book named after the woman herself. The novel focuses not just on Nefertiti but her younger sister Mutnodjmet, following these two very different women through political marriages, religious upheavals, nefarious plots, heartbreaking reversals, and much, much more.
The First Empress of Haiti, Marie-Claire Bonheur
Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley
The late 18th century saw revolution spread across the globe, but nowhere was that rebellion more striking than the island of Saint-Domingue, the nation now known as Haiti. What set the Haitian Revolution apart was its unique nature: a successful rebellion where enslaved people of color rose up, defeated their oppressors, and established a nation ruled by non-whites where slavery was outlawed.
Vanessa Riley’s book Sister Mother Warrior centers on the first Empress of Haiti, Marie-Claire Bonheur, a free woman of color whose formerly enslaved husband Jean-Jacques Dessalines was proclaimed emperor in 1804. The other protagonist in Riley’s story is a West African-born warrior named Gran Toya, a key fighter in the rebellion and originally a soldier of the Dahomey—the famed female warriors you may be familiar with from the 2022 Viola Davis movie, The Woman King. The novel mixes fact and fiction to pay homage to the very real and very courageous women and men who sacrificed so much to win independence for their island nation.
Languoreth, Queen of Scotland
The Lost Queen by Signe Pike
When is a British queen’s story not the same old British queen’s story? When it’s the story of Languoreth, a sixth-century queen of Scotland, whose name has almost been forgotten. Languoreth ruled at a time when long-held pagan beliefs clashed directly—and often violently—with the growing forces of Christianity. Languoreth’s twin brother Lailoken has been cited as the inspiration for the character of Merlin in Arthurian legend, but her story doesn’t depend on him for its urgency and import.
Signe Pike’s novel The Lost Queen brings the fascinating story of Languoreth vividly to life, transporting readers to the unusual setting of medieval Scotland for a tale of love, survival, hard choices, alliance, and destiny.
Isabella of Castile
The Queen’s Vow by C.W. Gortner
Today, Isabella of Castile may be best known as the queen who funded Christopher Columbus’s search for the East Indies, but the full story of her reign is far more interesting and complex. In line for the throne behind her two older brothers, Isabella was regarded as an unlikely heir, but after one brother dies and the other fails to rule effectively, she finds herself directly in the path to power. After marrying Ferdinand of Aragon, Isabella joins forces with her new husband to rule successfully—some would say ruthlessly—and preserve her family’s legacy at all costs.
(Fun fact: though this book focuses entirely on events in Spain, eagle-eyed royals-watchers will know that Isabella’s story does dance right up to the line of Tudor territory – Isabella’s daughter Catherine became the first wife of, you guessed it, good old Henry VIII.)
Rani Jindan Kaur, Regent of the Sikh Empire
The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Here’s the other side of the many, many novels about the British royals: a fresh perspective from one of the nations that the British royals presided over, colonizing and exploiting. The Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni tells the story of the youngest and last queen of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire, a young woman known as Jindan—once a commoner whose father managed the royal kennels—who became regent on behalf of her son Duleep Singh when he unexpectedly inherited the throne at the tender age of six.
Unfortunately, her rise to power coincided with encroachment from the British Empire, and Jindan had no choice but to transform herself into a warrior queen. Fearless and inspirational, Jindan endured a smear campaign by British agents who feared her influence and sought to discredit her. She was even eventually imprisoned, but managed to successfully escape. Is truth stranger than fiction? You’ll have to dive into this inspired-by-true-events novel to find out.
