So, the competition running at the moment got us all thinking about teenage heroines. I came up with too many possibilities so I've decided to have two lists - firstly, heroines from my teenage reading and secondly, some from books I've read much more recently. In case you haven't seen TheMole's choices you can find them here.
List A - probably in chronological reading order.
Maelen from the Moon of Three Rings by Andre Norton - probably not very well known but an alien from a far distant planet with the ability to communicate with animals through thought and at times of very rare planetary alignment her race is able to 'swap bodies/minds' with the animals and become them.
A bit of a leap for #2 - Natasha from War and Peace. Maybe not an obvious choice for a teenagers reading pile but I first saw this on TV and was entranced by the fancy frocks etc then read the book. Natasha is after all a teenager for most of the book, has her tantrums, falls in love with a Prince, tries to elope with someone else and lives happily after after with teddy-bear like Pierre. Oh and no one would want to be like Cousin Sonia!
Thirdly, Cecile from Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan. Not a nice girl! She smokes, has sex with her boyfriend ( unheard of way back then) and plots and schemes to separate her father from his first serious relationship after being widowed, driving people to despair and possible suicide. All of this against the backdrop of the exotic-seeming French Riviera.
List B More recent heroines
Cass from Bad Faith by Gillian Philip - coping with murder, family secrets and a stifling male-dominated society
The knife-throwing Josie from Mortlock by Jon Mayhew - plunged into a world of mystery, danger and crows!
Sabriel from the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix. Forced by her Father's death into taking over his role as Abhorsen, sending the newly-raised dead back where they belong and tracking down his killer.
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