I am 5 ft. 1 inch and I bought a Jamis Coda wsd 44 cm last winter. I use the bike for errands and short road rides in the winter. The longest ride I did on it was 45 miles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. I have one pannier on it.
This is billed as a flat bar road bike, but compared to my 15 pound Kuota, it feels like a tank. However, it rides like a dream and easily gets up my 15% grade driveway, fully loaded with stuff in the pannier, with the mountain gearing it has.
Several people on this list have the Coda and don't feel that it is as heavy as I do.
I would recommend it as a first bike only because it's cheap (400 or so) and well made, plus has a nice range of gears. You can always upgrade to a better bike later and keep this one for other purposes like I do.