Nine books about disreputable women by women writers

Iris Martin Cohen grew up in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and studied Creative Nonfiction at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the author of The Little Clan (2018). Her new novel is Last Call on Decatur Street. She lives in Brooklyn.

[Q&A with Iris Martin Cohen; The Page 69 Test: Last Call on Decatur Street; My Book, The Movie: Last Call on Decatur Street]

At Electric Lit she tagged nine favorite books about disreputable women by women writers, including:

The Vagabond by Colette

I loved the story of Renée, the disillusioned writer who takes up a music hall career in turn of the last century Paris so much that I literally started burlesque dancing in my 20s just to be like her. Colette writes the female experience with aching beauty and razor precision. An independent woman, lonely and cynical, with a French bulldog named Fosette? Maybe my perfect novel.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue