Happy International Women’s Day from all of us here at Mushens Entertainment! To celebrate, Juliet, Silé, and Liza shared their recommendations for books that celebrate womanhood in all its forms.

Juliet recommends…

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is about three women – cis and trans – who are brought together when one of them falls pregnant, and they decide to try and raise the baby together. It’s funny, fast-paced and also very thought-provoking – I found it moving and mind-expanding in its thoughts around the ‘performance’ of womanhood, dysphoria, and queerness. I read it for my book club and we had a lot to discuss!

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of my all-time favourite books. It’s about immigration, racism, class, and if you can ever truly go ‘home’ but it’s also an absolutely heartrending and believable love story between Ifemelu and Obinze. The characters felt so real to me that even when I finished the novel I kept feeling as if I wanted to know how they were, and I had a major book hangover for weeks afterwards.

Silé recommends…

Black Girl Finance by Selina Flavius, the first book by London-based Senior Account Exec who created and runs the coaching platform Black Girl Finance. Reading Black Girl Finance reminded what I need to do to keep my finances in check for 2021. It's literally on my bedside and it's great for making notes to yourself as you go. I loved Selina’s tone, completely accessible and not superior at all – I’m all about securing the bag and I want to see every black woman doing that for herself this IWD. 

Liza recommends…

THE FIVE by Hallie Rubenhold. This shines a light on the women behind the murders and illuminates their lives. They were mothers, sisters, daughters – women in their own right and should be remembered as such. I love that Hallie Rubenhold restores the identities of Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane and gives them the proper justice they deserve.