Which New Historical Romance Novels Feature Strong Feminist Heroines?

Honestly, if I had to pick a handful of period romances that carry real feminist weight, my first shout would be for the classics that refuse to let women be only ornaments on the page. 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' by Anne Brontë is furious and brave — a woman who leaves an abusive marriage and carves out financial and moral independence; it still stings and inspires. 'Jane Eyre' gives a heroine who insists on moral equality and self-respect, not just romantic fulfillment. 'Middlemarch' isn't a tidy romance but it explores Dorothea's intellectual hunger and the constraints society places on her choices. Beyond those, I love how 'Persuasion' shows a woman regaining her voice and making deliberate life choices, and 'North and South' gives a heroine who steps into public moral debate, not just drawing-room flirtation. For lighter fun with agency, Georgette Heyer's 'The Grand Sophy' offers a heroine who actively shapes the story around her. If you want something modern that still sits in the past, try Courtney Milan's novels (for example, 'The Governess Affair'), which explicitly foreground consent, economics, and women's autonomy. These books vary in tone and intensity, but what ties them together is women exercising power — sometimes quietly, sometimes explosively — and negotiating for their own lives, not merely waiting for rescue. I always come away feeling sharper and oddly less alone when I reread them, and they pair well with a cup of tea and some stubborn resolve.