Real-life women who’ve lived amazing lives of courage and passion fill the pages of Sherry Jones’s historical fiction books — women who’ve inspired the author to dream big, live large, and reach for the stars.

A’isha bint Abi Bakr, youngest wife of the Prophet Muhmammad — and the most famous and influential woman in the history of Islam;

The four Sisters of Savoy who became queens of England, France, Germany, and Italy;

Blanche de Castille, the formidable White Queen of 12th-century France — the original “virgin queen,” who ruled without a man;

And Heloise d’Argenteuil, the 12th-century scholar who won the heart of Pierre Abelard, the famous poet and philosopher, and who turned a patch of wild ground into one of the most renowned women’s abbeys in the realm:

These women, portrayed in Sherry Jones’s historical novels, lived very different lives, yet each found within herself the strength and intelligence to achieve levels of greatness usually reserved only for men.

These were the Oprah Winfreys of their time, the Hilary Clintons, the Margaret Thatchers, the Gloria Steinems and Sheryl Sandburgs. Living in a man’s world as we do now, the women in Sherry Jones’s novels teach us today about what it means to be a woman, and how to empower ourselves to reach our highest potential.

A resident of Spokane, Washington, Jones spends her free time cooking, taking long walks, dancing, going to the opera, reading, wine tasting, studying foreign languages, and researching her next novel, coming in 2016 from Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books.