When Women Were Dragons is a novel by Kelly Barnhill.
Finished on: 30.12.2025

Plot:
In 1955, a mass dragoning took place in the United States with thousands of women suddenly turning into dragons. Despite the scale of the event and despite the fact that it was neither the first, nor the last time it happened nobody spoke of it, though. Alexandra, or rather Alex as she prefers to be called though nobody seems to care about that, is used to not being allowed to talk about things, to forget about things despite being close to them. But at some point, it becomes an impossible task even for her.

I remember picking up When Women Were Dragons a couple of years ago, one of those impulsive “this looks interesting” buys that bookstores seem to almost inevitably prompt. Having finally read it, I want to thank my impulses: this is a really fantastic novel, a deeply political and also very touching read that I could barely put down.

It is no secret that I like my media to acknowledge political circumstances in some way or another and in the best case, taking a critical look at said circumstances from a feminist perspective. When Women Were Dragons absolutely does that from the outset: women fed up with the patriarchy turning into dragons and freeing themselves (along the way, a house may burn, a husband might be eaten) is an idea that has me sitting at attention for sure.

But this is only the surface level of the novel that is much more about what it does to us, both as individuals and as a society, when some topics are taboo, not to be discussed, silenced into oblivion. While it may seem ridiculous that it could be possible to simply ignore dragons at first, it is not so impossible when we think about topics like menstruation, abortion, sexualized violence etc. that are still pretty hard to discuss publically in many ways.

This kind of silence is almost traumatizing, certainly hurtful. I still vividly remember a PostSecret from probably something like 20 years ago where somebody’s secret was that they had hair growing in their armpits. What an aweful and lonely life it must be when you’re environment is sanitized so much that you don’t even know that (almost) everybody has body hair. That’s the world that Alex lives in, and it is terrifying in many ways.

But Alex is a tough character and she can deal with the hurt that this causes. I loved how Barnhill doesn’t pretend that being tough means not getting hurt at all or not being (rightfully) angry or not needing anything, but to get through the hard parts. To survive and to maybe even maintain a sense of yourself, even if at times distorted or diluted.

Barnhill’s writing is beautiful, evocative and warm. Her novel is filled with wonderfully flawed characters with a special mention to a kick-ass librarian. There is a very careful queer romance for Alex but it doesn’t exactly end happily, only in some ways. (There are more queer relationships and a lot of queer joy to be had, though.) There is a great sense of humor that runs through everything. There are knitting dragons.

I could gush on, but instead I will just say that I laughed and cried and grew while reading and I can only recommend that you read it, too.

Summarizing: an instant favorite.