The Book Club for Troublesome Women

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Focus for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The housewives of Concordia, Virgina, are the picture-perfect women their husbands dreamed of.  They deliver the children to school, the dinner to the table promptly as the men arrive home from work, and support their husband’s aspirations through their social adventures.  But when the women form a book club, they find they share more than just a love of books – a shared need for independence and self-worth.  Carreers outside the home, a need to contribute to society and be more than just a mom are at the center of their dreams, but their husbands disagree.  Will the women win their fight for purpose, or will they end up bending to the will of their husbands again?

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is Marie Bostwick’s historical fiction novel that will transport readers to 1960’s Virginia.  In a Stepford Wives meets Golden Girls type narrative, Bostwick weaves a plot of unlikely friendship and women empowering each other that will remind readers how far we’ve come in women’s rights…and how far we have left to go.  This is a story about finding your community and support system wherever you land, but also about advocating for your dreams and not allowing anyone to ruin that for you.

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I give The Book Club for Troublesome Women 5 out of 5 stars.  If you have been following me here long, you know I am a sucker for a good book that tackles mental health issues, and Bostwick does that here with polished ease.  Looking at underlying conditions and situational challenges, as well as substance abuse, these characters exemplify the dangers of mental health in motherhood that are often overlooked and discounted as just “emotional women”.  I also really appreciated the historical look at the fight women had to be relevant in society – the things women could and could not do without their husband’s approval in the 60’s like bank accounts or owning assets.  It is easy to forget that just a few decades ago, women faced a very different world than what we see today and books like this are a great reminder of how easy it would be to go back to that environment.

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If you are a fan of the way Fredrik Backman tackles mental health in his writing – you’ll love this book.  If you like the way Patti Callahan Henry or Marie Benedict transport readers to past eras in their historical fiction, this is definitely the book for you.  However, with themes of substance abuse, mental health struggles, and emotional abuse in marital relationships, this may not be a book for all audiences and may be best directed to more mature readers over 16.

I was excited to see this book as a NetGalley option.  The title and cover captured my attention right away – I think my grandmother had the same couch when I was growing up!  Once I reviewed the publisher’s description, I knew I had to read this book – book clubs and strong female friendships are right up my alley!

The Book Club for Troublesome Women will release April 22^nd.  You can pre-order your copy today on our Bookshop.org page!

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What I’m Reading

• Current print book: The Postmistress, Sarah Blake
• Current audio book: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Jessica Guerrieri
• Book I’m most looking forward to: Deep End, Ali Hazelwood