From the Thurber Prize finalist and national bestselling author of Why We Read, a hilarious, resoundingly joyful blend of memoir and criticism celebrating twelve iconic young women in literature, from Anne Shirley to Addie LaRue, who empower us to be courageous in a turbulent world and show us how to live.

We've all met iconic femme fatales in literature, or strong-willed heroines, or the occasional messy protagonist we hate to love. From Jo March to Harriet the Spy to Nancy Drew, the list of renowned, sometimes notorious characters is seemingly unending.

No one is better equipped to be our guide throughout the history of women in literature than lifelong bibliophile and bestselling author Shannon Reed. In My Girls, Shannon takes us on a hilarious romp through some of literature's most beloved, most infamous, and most influential women of our favorite books. Along the way, she explores the lives of the authors who wrote them and reflects on the impact these characters have had on her own life.

Shannon's breadth of knowledge is wide in scope, written with riotous yet heartfelt wit and verve, giving us an essential feminist perspective into how our world wrote and understood women throughout the history of literature, and how young women who have so formally shaped our lives and our world today.