[Note from Frolic: We are so excited to welcome author Rachel Mans McKenny to the site today. Love STEM heroines? She has you covered! Take it away, Rachel!]
When I set out to write a book about an entomologist, I knew I’d get a little push back. Bugs? In a novel for my book club? Trust me, by the end of the book, you’ll be a little more in favor of insects than you were at the beginning.
My debut follows a grumpy entomology PhD who prefers bugs to people—at least until she’s forced to rebuild her broken relationships. After her twin has an aneurysm, she’s forced to confront the people who’ve hurt her and whom she has hurt, including her twin’s fiancée, her estranged mother, and her ex-boyfriend, who runs the butterfly conservatory in town.
Novels featuring female scientists are extremely popular book club picks, especially in historical fiction. Who doesn’t know a friend who had loved and recommended Where the Crawdads Sing or The Other Einstein? What follows is a list of fiction and nonfiction you may not have picked up yet which includes fabulous ladies from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.