Once again on the American side of the Atlantic talent pours forth from the pens of these literary women. Even to choose a mere ten seems to be a choice too difficult to make. Society may hold women back but these writers are equal to the challenge and overcome its boundaries with superbly written stories that are a beacon for all others who follow.1 - The Top Ten - 19th Century American women2 - Since I Died by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps3 - The Peterkins Decide to Learn the Languages by Lucretia Peabody Hale4 - A White Heron by Sarah Orne Jewett5 - Souls Belated by Edith Wharton6 - Carnivorine by Lucy Hamilton Hooper7 - A New England Nun by Mary E Wilkins Freeman8 - The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman9 - Désirée's Baby by Kate Chopin10 - From the Dead by Edith Nesbit11 - The Shape of Fear by Eliw W Peattie