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Five male authors reveal their shero from the books
Authors pick their favourite female literary character
1. Eleanor Oliphant in Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
“Eleanor is my age, socially awkward, likes to do her job well while keeping her head down, and takes great pains to isolate herself from the world. Most of all, she works up the courage to admit to herself that she isn’t completely fine, and to piece herself back together. There’s much to admire in that.”
– Siddhesh Inamdar
2. Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
“Salander is complex and unhinged, and a deeply flawed character whose choices are often questionable, despite a fierce and uncompromising moral code of her own. She exudes a raw physical energy and despite that animal intensity, she is palpably human.”
– Udayan Mukherjee
3. Katie Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind
“Was there ever a woman bolder and more quick witted than Katie Scarlett O’Hara? As far as I can tell, she was the first widow to have ever danced at a ball, and the first female businesswoman to have negotiated a deal wearing a dress made out of curtains. Miss Scarlett could just as easily be the woman of today, 150 years after she was born.”
– Rickie Khosla
4. Jasmine in The Year I Met You
“If I were a woman, I would be like Jasmine. Perhaps trying to rebuild my life while being curious about the lives of people around me. Drawing parallels between their lives and mine, full of questions and at the same time hesitant to ask them, and yet wanting to ask them.”
– Ravinder Singh
5. Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield
“Betsey Trotwood, who appears as the protagonist’s formidable, direct, eccentric but also ultimately endearing aunt has stayed with me, rescuing as she does this ill-treated nephew, going out of her way to help him find his future. Trotwood was also played on screen by the amazing Maggie Smith, which makes the memory doubly sweet.”
– Manu Pillai
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From HT Brunch, March 31, 2019
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