Literary Fiction's Most Iconic Female Anti-Heroines

This novel reimagines the origins of one of Shakespeare's most notorious women in a sweeping historical epic. Gruoch was raised believing that she will be crowned queen of Alba. Among the court of Scone where Duncan, the heir-elect, resides, she and her friend MacBethad fall into a treacherous game of power and control. Gruoch is determined to make the prophecy come true, but what is the real cost? Gruoch never wants to be powerless again, and she’ll do anything to claim the crown.

Jane Austen might be most beloved for her feisty and independent heroines who remain eminently relatable, but she also gave the world one of Regency fiction’s greatest schemers. Lady Susan Vernon is a beautiful widow with a scathing wit who is determined to claim an advantageous second marriage. To do so, she's even willing to push her own daughter into a less than ideal match. She'll deceive everyone, and you, dear reader, will love her for it! 

For millennia, the name of Medea was synonymous with conniving and dangerous women. Depicted in most Greek mythology as a witch or high priestess of the goddess Hecate, she married Jason, leader of the Argonauts, then killed their children after he tried to abandon her. Rosie Hewlett's reimagining of her story delves into her life as an outcast whose relationship with Jason starts out as an escape from her abusive home. It’s thanks to her powers that Jason is able to become a legendary hero. But when she tries to reclaim her power after Jason's betrayal, her choices will prove unforgivable to many.

This brutal short story, first published in 1865, takes William Shakespeare's Lady MacBeth and transplants her to the Russian heartland. Forced into a marriage of convenience with an older man, Katerina Lvovna finds solace in an innocent flirtation with her steward, Sergei. But soon, he forces his way into her bed, and Katerina decides to risk everything to be with the man she loves (not knowing that he's a cad who's done this to every woman in town.) To reclaim her freedom, she’ll have to become a far more dangerous woman than her husband or Sergei believes her to be. 

Short story author Mary Gaitskill spent four years trying to find a publisher for her first book, the short story collection Bad Behavior. Many feared her tales of women dealing with sexuality, sado-masochism, addiction, and prostitution were too transgressive. But that was the point. Bad Behavior depicts women's most taboo instincts and actions in a matter-of-fact manner, one that remains startling almost 40 years after its publication (this is also the collection that includes the story that inspired the movie Secretary!)

There may be no more famous a scheming villainous woman in 21^st century fiction than “Amazing” Amy Dunne. Gillian Flynn’s twisty thriller Gone Girl set the world alight in 2012 with its mystery of a missing wife and the seemingly dodgy husband who the world believes to be a murderer. Of course, we all know what happens next, as Amy reveals the truth and one of the greatest bad women in literature rises to the top. Perhaps her greatest trick was making readers sympathize with her after the now-iconic “cool girl” monologue. Would you want to cross Amy?