I’d second this recommendation. I recently suggested the series to a female co-worker and she loved the first book and immediately moved on to the second. I’m on the seventh of the series on my Kindle; I got into the books because an ex-girlfriend back in the mid-90’s was reading them and I’ve kept up with them since.
Another recommendation: Fall on Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald. It’s a family drama set in a small community with a strong female protagonist.
Thanks for the heads up, Tromik. Didn’t know that existed and I absolutely loved Oryx and Crake.
Also, another recommendation is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. This is partly a historical examination of some early abuse of minorities “for the good of science” by the medical establishment and partly the story of a dirt poor black families attempt to get some answers regarding the use of their mother’s cancer cells for medical research. This appealed to me since I have worked with these cells in my research days and I had no idea about the backstory. I actually found the historical part more interesting than her family, but YMMV (or YWMMV might be more appropriate).
Another good read is Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. This is one of the few (only?) books that has ever made me cry. This is really a mother daughter book about bridging the gap between your experiences as a child and how your parents’ experiences in their youth ended up shaping their ability be an effective parent. There is a much less effective movie and I would not suggest watching that. There is also a kind of prequel novel - Little Alters Everywhere - that actually came out first but did not see wide spread publication until the success of Divine Secrets. It is quite a bit darker, but is an interesting follow up.
Probably my favorite novel of the 90s was The Saskiad by Brian Hall. Its protagonist is a gifted 13-year-old girl, but it is NOT a young adult novel.