Five top young fictional heroines in coming-of-age novels

Judith Mackrell has been one of Britain’s leading dance critics since 1986, writing first for The Independent and currently for The Guardian. She broadcasts regularly on TV and radio and has written several critically acclaimed books on dance. Her first biography, Bloomsbury Ballerina, a portrait of the Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, was published 2008 and was short-listed for the Costa Biography Award. Her latest book is Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation.

For the Telegraph, Mackrell named five young fictional heroines in top coming-of-age novels, including:

Ursula Brangwen, who features both in The Rainbow (1915) and Women in Love (1920). Ursula rails against the fashionable humbug of the modern world as much as against the repressive past (she’s one of the rare women in DH Lawrence’s fiction who’s allowed an independent voice without being punished for it).

Read about another young heroine Mackrell tagged.

Also see: Janice Clark's top seven timeless coming-of-age novels; Kate Clanchy's top ten coming-of-age novels; Shani Boianjiu's five top novels about coming of age, Emily Bazelon's five top coming-of-age stories, and A.E. Hotchner's five favorite coming-of-age tales.

--Marshal Zeringue