What are some books that have a strong female character as the protagonist?

Well! Let's throw in Catherine the younger and Nellie from Wuthering Heights too then.

Anna Karenina committed suicide .

Maggie Tuliver from The Mill on the Floss was considered inspirational in her time.

If you want an early example of a strong lead woman how about the play The Roaring Girl by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Decker

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Originally Posted by myrna22

I believe she is a strong character, though she doesn't triumph. She does what she can to survive, to achieve what she believes is her place in society through the means she has learned are the appropiate means to do so; she makes mistakes. She's human, but not weak. Like all tragic heros, she realizes her mistakes at the end. She's a wonderful character.

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Agreed. It would have been so easy for her to have behaved as everyone else in her society did, and carried through the half-hearted attempts to marry a rich husband. She also withheld the letters which could have helped her out of her desperate situation earlier. She tried to survive by working her way out of her troubles, albeit a futile attempt, but she did not resort to behaving like Bertha, or betraying her when it would have been so easy to do.

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Originally Posted by kiki1982

Can Jane Eyre be missed out here?

Hardy's Tess of the d'Urervilles has a strong character too. As does Far from the Madding Crowd.

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This was my thought as I was reading through the first string of answers.

Hilda and Miriam in The Marble Faun, by Hawthorne.
Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, by Shakespeare.
Does Lady Dedlock in Bleak House count?

Alberto Moravia has made a masterpiece: La Romana is nothing less than a great novel. The development of its female protagonist throughout the book is an apology of life and love.

Cecile in Bonjour Tristesse

Nana- Emile Zola

The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

Dr. Maura Isles - any book by Tess Gerritsen

Mr. God, this is Anna - Fynn (does she count even though she's still a child? I added her because she is very philosophical and seems mature in a way adults can't be)

Matilda - Roald Dahl (same question as with Anna)

Jane Marple - books by Agatha Christie

Charlotte's Web - E. B. White

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol

Gervaise Lantier in L'assommoir by Emile Zola.

Katherine V Forrest has written a series of novels about fictional lesbian detective Kate Delafield who, indeed, is a strong leading female character. The writer portrays her and other lesbians both as victims and victimizers of social bigotry.

Beverly Malibu

Murder at the Nightwood Bar

and others ...