Books like Spinster and Her Enemies by Sheila Jeffreys

Miss Annette Courtney unexpectedly inherits Sir Nigel Montfort’s fortune, forcing the resentful baronet Sir Gerard to confront his gambling debts and a chance at love while overseeing a school for local children.

A Scottish Army officer, newly made a peer, must learn the manners of London society with the help of the exacting etiquette tutor Miss Adalaide Terrington, while their training for proper conduct becomes a test of their hearts.

Spinster is a reflective memoir by Kate Bolick that explores her personal journey as a single woman, examining the lives of preceding bold single dames and the evolving attitudes toward women in contemporary society.

Jessica Valenti’s memoir, "Sex Object," recounts her New York City adolescence and young adulthood, exposing the everyday and extreme ways sexism shapes women’s lives through stories of harassment, assault, and personal struggle.

"Today, only twenty percent of Americans are wed by age twenty-nine, compared to nearly sixty percent in 1960. The Population Reference Bureau calls it a 'dramatic reversal.' [This book presents a] portrait of contemporary American life and how we got here, through the lens of the single American woman, covering class, race, [and] sexual orientation, and filled with ... anecdotes from ... contemporary and historical figures"-- In 2010, award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister started a book that she thought would be about the twenty-first-century phenomenon of the American single woman. Over the course of her research, Traister made a startling discovery: historically, when women have had options beyond early heterosexual marriage, their resulting independence has provoked massive social change. Unmarried women were crucial to the abolition, suffrage, temperance, and labor movements; they created settlement houses and secondary education for women. Today, only 20% of Americans are wed by age 29, compared to nearly 60% in 1960. The Population Reference Bureau calls it a "dramatic reversal." Traister sets out to examine how this generation of independent women is changing the world. This is a remarkable portrait of contemporary American life and how we got here, through the lens of the single American woman. Covering class, race, and sexual orientation, and filled with vivid anecdotes from fascinating contemporary and historical figures, this book is destined to be a classic work of social history and journalism.--Adapted from dust jacket. Working on a book about single women in the twenty-first-century, Traister made a startling discovery: historically, when women have had options beyond early heterosexual marriage, their resulting independence has provoked massive social change. Unmarried women were crucial to the abolition, suffrage, temperance, and labor movements; they created settlement houses and secondary education for women. Today, only 20% of Americans are wed by age 29, compared to nearly 60% in 1960. Through the lens of the single American woman, Traister covers issues of class, race, and sexual orientation.

An incisive study of black women's experiments with love, solidarity, and freedom in early twentieth‑century America, exposing how their radical choices reshaped intimate life and defied social norms.