The premise of this novel had so much potential but the writing and the character dialogue reminded me of my stories written in 8th grade creative writing it was so juvenile. There were many irrelevant characters with cheesy and unrealistic conversations as the story failed to delve deep into the issues brought forth (dangers of tobacco, working conditions in the factories, unionization, etc.) Instead, it casually mentioned a multitude of issues with no resolution - women working rights, pregnancy and smoking, child abandonment, measles outbreaks to name a few. Maddie, the main character, was pretty outspoken as a 15 year old talking to tobacco executives which I found over-the-top and unrealistic.

I loved this book. Maddie lived in North Carolina with her parents. Her father is killed in the war. She is left with her mother who goals in life are making the future comfortable as in a wealthy husband. She drops Maddie off with her aunt as she needs time. Her aunt is a seamstress and is making gowns for the tobacco ball. She sews for the wealthiest of the tobacco owners. Aunt Etta gets sick and Maddie takes over the duties of making gowns. The story takes us through the dealings of Maddie with the wives of these rich men. Maddie helps divulge a secret and the book takes us through that development. An entertaining read.

I loved THE TOBACCO WIVES! It's set in 1946 in North Carolina where women are working in the factories while the men are fighting in the war. As the men start coming home, the women want to continue to work.

This story revolves around Madeline Sykes (Maddie) who is a seamstress in Haywood Holler in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She ends up in Bright Leaf with her Aunt Etta and becomes responsible for sewing the gowns that the tobacco wives will wear to the Summer Solstice Celebration. The characters are wonderful and I especially loved the relationship between Maddie and Mitzy.

Go on this incredible journey with Maddie as she finds out secrets and lies that will impact the women of that time and the tobacco industry long into the future.

Thank you Book Club Girls and NetGalley for the copy of THE TOBACCO WIVES. Run don't walk to get your copy of this book!

I love historical fiction and I especially when it’s different than WWII. The Tobacco Wives is set in the tobacco fields of North Carolina after the war. This was right up my alley!

Maddie is sent to live with her aunt in Bright Leaf, NC- the tobacco capital of the South. Both Maddie and her Aunt Etta are seamstresses and they made custom dresses for the tobacco wives; high society women who are married to senior management at the tobacco factories. After her aunt falls ill, Maddie moves in with one of the families of a very high ranking member and she finds out some things she shouldn’t know.

It’s incredible that doctors and advertising pushed smoking on pregnant and nursing mothers. I know they didn’t know what we know now, but it amazes me that we trusted our doctors and they prescribed these terrible products.

I really loved how independent both Maddie and Etta were. They both took charge of their lives and careers, especially Maddie at such a young age. She was a budding entrepreneur! I also love that she wasn’t going to be dependent on a man after seeing what her mother went through.

Thank you so much to @adelejam, @bibliolifestyle and @williammorrowbooks for my gifted copy. The Tobacco Wives is on sale now!

Thank you to The BookClub Girls for the arc! WM denied my request so when BCG offered it I was definitely filling out the form. Great story love the history behind this story.
4 stars

The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers follows the young Maddie Sykes as she comes in her own the summer of 1946. Maddie's father was a casualty in the war and her momma has no idea how they are going to survive without him. Late one night, her momma wakes Maddie up and they start on a road trip. Maddie has no idea of where they are going. Much to her surprise her momma puts her on her Aunt Etta's doorstep, and right in the middle of Etta's busiest season. Maddie knows she will be in the way, but that is no matter to her momma. Etta lives in Bright Leaf, a town know for its tobacco leaves and cigarettes. Etta is everyone's favorite dressmaker. she takes pride in dressing the tobacco wives for the season. Maddie has followed in Etta's passion and started sewing just like her aunt. Etta decides Maddie will just join her at her appointments and help her with the sewing, getting her skill down. That is until Etta falls sick with the measles and leaves Maddie in control of the Gala gowns! The whole town of Bright Leaf is behind Maddie. Even one of the most influential ladies in town, takes Maddie in and gives her a workshop to work out of while her aunt is sick. But it is there that Maddie finds some confidential correspondence she was never supposed to find. Set in a time when women went to work to help save the town while the boys were away at war and tobacco was everywhere. Before tobacco was seen as it is today and vilified for everything it causes.
I really enjoyed The Tobacco Wives. The setting, the dresses, the time! I would love to see these dresses Maddie made! This book could definitely be a movie--I'm sure I am not the only one who thinks so. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and will looking for other works by Adele Myers. Special thanks to NetGalley, Adele Myers, and William Morrow-Custom House Publishing for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest opinion. 5 stars for me!
#TheTobaccoWives #NetGalley

15 year old Maddie Sykes is transformed during the summer she spends in Bright Leaf, NC in 1946. She is working as a seamstress with her aunt and is thrust into a town of rich socialites. But not everything is as good as it seems and Maddie takes a stand for what is right. Great debut novel!

Maddie is now 15-years-old and her father died in the war. She and her mother live in a small house in the mountains of North Carolina. Her mother has decided to take Maddie to her father’s sister to stay. Aunt Etta is a talented seamstress and after spending some time with her, Maddie has learned quite a lot about designing and sewing dresses.

Bright Leaf is home to some tobacco manufactures. The owners’ wives are called The Tobacco Wives. They are very wealthy, live in big homes, and entertain a lot. Etta has always sewn their ball gowns for them. With a big gala coming up, Etta is glad to have Maddie to help her. But when Etta comes down with measles leaving her ill and hospitalized, Maddie must take over making the gowns and dealing with the various personalities of the wives.

I liked the plot of this book and many of the characters. What I found somewhat puzzling is how Maddie at 15 with just some summertime experience with Etta, ready to take on the entire job of designing and sewing intricate ball gowns for a number of women. The book mostly zeroes in on the detrimental effects of smoking especially on pregnant women. It will make readers angry at how women were lied to and encouraged by doctors to smoke to help them have a smooth pregnancy. However, many babies did not survive, had low birth weights, and under-developed lungs. The tobacco industry worked to get people hooked on smoking. However, many people were, and still are, too weak to quit. When you know that something can kill you, how can you not stop? A book that makes for a lot of food for thought.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It’s 1946 in North Carolina. Men are returning home from the war and tobacco is a lucrative business. And the Tobacco Wives, those married to the big leaf businessmen, ARE society.

Maddie has lost her father and been abandoned by her mother, dropped into Bright Leaf North Carolina to live and work with her aunt. She’s dazzled by the wives as she works as a seamstress, getting a peek into their lives. Until she discovers a secret that could destroy everyone’s lives and livelihoods.

Maddie is a wonderful heroine. She’s 16, but has a strong desire to do what is right, not what is easy. I loved the writing, atmosphere, and the strong female characters in this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley and # WilliamMorrow for the ARC.

An engrossing look behind the scenes of the lives of big tobacco executives and their wives in the 1940's when men were returning from WWII to reclaim their jobs in the factories. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were well-drawn even the secondary ones. I especially liked the epilogue which put a nice ending to the story. Definitely recommended.

I received this book from Book Club Girl via Netgalley

The Tobacco Wives is a solid debut novel by Adele Myers. Set in 1946, in the tobacco growing industry of Bright Leaf, North Carolina. Maddie’s father was killed during the war and her mother has a hard time dealing with his death. One day in the early summer, Maddie’s mom decides to take Maddie to Bright Leaf and without notice, drop her off at her Aunt Etta’s. Aunt Etta is a wonderful seamstress and sews for the elite women of Bright Leaf. This is Aunt Etta’s busiest time of the year as she is preparing dresses for the town’s gala celebration. There are lots of side stories happening in this book. I kept thinking that this was an overview of a mini series for TV. I say an overview as there were so many characters and most were not developed. The smoking issue with the tobacco company launching cigarettes for women drew me back to the ads I saw as a young girl for the marketing of Virginia Slims for women.

I look forward to reading Myers next book. My thanks to William Morrow, Book Club Girl, amd NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

Set in North Carolina in 1943, 15-year-old Maddie works with her great aunt to make clothing for the wealthy wives of tobacco moguls. The author establishes a strong sense of time and place. Men are deployed during WWII, and women are taking up jobs in the tobacco factory. The North Carolina summer’s stifling heat is filled with distinctive scents of tobacco as Maddie’s bus travels to the homes of tobacco wives and poor workers sweat in the fields. It’s another time and place, when cigarette advertisements were geared toward everyone, including pregnant women. The entire town’s economy and social life revolve around the production and sales of tobacco.

Our main character, young Maddie, finds herself on her own this summer as she learns more about the darker side of North Carolina’s beloved tobacco industry, including greed, lies, and sexism. The novel is a coming-of-age story as Maddie is left to fill adult roles and sees the world through a new lens.

If you enjoy historical fiction set in the time of WWII and a teenage perspective of someone not a girl, not yet a woman, in the words of the great Britney Spears song, pick this one up. I would have liked to see the point of view of one of the adult tobacco wives in this book, too, and think a dual perspective element would have worked well to give us more insight into the moral dilemmas, or lack of, in the adults.

This review will be posted on IG and FB 3.9.2022 @beginandendwithbooks and on Goodreads Michelle Beginandendwithbooks

The Tobacco Wives
by Adele Myers
Pub Date: March 1, 2022
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the
audio version.For the audience of Fiona Davis and Lisa Wingate, a vibrant historical debut set in 1946 North Carolina following a young female seamstress who uncovers dangerous truths about the Big Tobacco empire ruling the American South.
I will be recommending this book in my library.
4 stars

The Tobacco Wives was a fascinating peek behind the tobacco industry back in it's heyday. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

I had really high hopes for this book -- it was one of my most anticipated novels for spring 2022. Unfortunately, it did not work for me. The biggest problem was that the main character was an innocent child and her naivete was painful and did not make the story interesting. The tobacco wives should have been more dimensional -- i think the book would have worked better if narrated by Mrs. Winston. Through the eyes of a child, this frankly just seemed like a simplistic swipe at big tobacco without depth. More about the wives!!

This is a beautiful book about a young woman who finds her voice and stands up to corporate greed. This atmospheric novel takes place in post-war North Carolina right in tobacco country. Maddie, an aspiring seamstress suddenly finds herself sewing for the elite women of this tobacco town and whilst doing do stumbles across a corporate secret. I loved the descriptions of the post-war woman’s dress styles - including hats and gloves. I enjoying reading this unique work of fiction which tackled the cigarette industry’s efforts during the late 1940’s to mislead the public (hard to believe they said smoking cigarettes calmed pregnant women’s nerves!)

Honestly, I stuck with this book because it was an interesting premise in a time period we don't see a lot of. Maddie's voice is very naive and really doesn't sound like a fifteen year old. The writing is... almost moralistic, I would say? There's clearly Good Guys and Bad Guys (the categorizations of whom I totally agree with), but they're so obvious that the reader doesn't really need to be told who is who. We're still definitely informed, though, and there's a lot of weirdly positioned info dumps where Maddie says someone "goes on to explain" something and similar structures that could have definitely been dialogue.

I think a lot of historical fiction readers will like this book, particularly if they enjoyed something like Radium Girls or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and want something similar but fiction. I'd try this author again, but I have a feeling her writing style is just not going to be my thing.

The Tobacco Wives transported me to 1940s North Carolina in this historical fiction set in the tobacco capital of the South.

Maddie ends up with her aunt a seamstress in Bright Leaf in the summer of 1946. She's dazzled by the town with all of the bustle of the female factory workers and especially the wives of the tobacco executives. Her aunt's main clients are these tobacco wives and when she's thrown in the deep end having to design their dresses for the biggest event of the year. When she accidentally stumbles upon some information she starts to question everything she's seeing in Bright Leaf about tobacco.

I liked how The Tobacco Wives looks at women's activism during the post war period and tied that into the story. It's also a coming of age story seeing Maddie grow into her confidence as a seamstress and questioning the marketing of cigarettes especially towards mothers.

Reading this is 2022, I found it fascinating with what we know about the health consequences of smoking & tobacco but it does raise a great question about being a whistle-blower when everything you do is based on something that could be harmful to others. And how much marketing & advertising impacts products. Definitely made me think!

If you're a historical fiction fan you'll enjoy The Tobacco Wives!

I love a good historical novel that shows us how knowledge and science have improved our lives. Set in the South in the forties, it highlights the rise of the tobacco industry as well as equal rights for women and it's also somewhat of a coming of age story. To think that cigarettes were once considered healthy and encouraged by doctors as calming stress relievers even to pregnant women.....WHAT??? Still blows my mind but also shows that money and profit often supersede health. An enjoyable and eye opening journey back to the forties makes for a great pick for Women's History Month.

4.5⭐️
Let me start by saying that I lived in Winston-Salem for over eight years and I love the place. I learned a lot about R. J. Reynolds and how important it was for the growth of tobacco to in Winston-Salem.
The novel brought all this back and the dangers of smoking. I don’t think anyone knew that it would be one of the deadliest things to human life. And all the lawsuits to follow.
The story planted me right in the middle of the life of these women. What would you do with the truth? Lively hood?
This was well told I was glued to this and eagerly wanting my happy ending.
I’ll let you decide if it was. I highly recommend this and loved the writing style.
Thanks William Morrow via NetGalley.