I love historical fiction about women who are forced to make decisions and control the narrative, I think because we've heard so little about women throughout history that I love when authors make up their own and take a piece of the pie, even if it is fiction. This one was really enjoyable, and a very worthy entry into the canon of such novels.

I love historical fiction and I’m always looking for a new subject. The premise of this book was great, but I just couldn’t get into it. The writing was good but I wanted more.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

I was really excited for this novel. It seemed like it would be an interesting mystery novel. However, I expected more. There was very little mystery and more romance than I really liked. I also did not like the main protagonist. She was very unreliable, and I could not trust her. Still, I recommend this for fans of Amanda Quick!

The Lunar Housewife was such a different look into historical fiction as it touched on the cold war, feminism, misogyny, writing and espionage. I liked how the fictional novel the MC was writing was about a romance between a Soviet man and an American woman who were sentenced to live on the moon. It was so far fetched but somehow worked!
This book, mirrored a bit of what was going on her real life.
Filled with suspense and surprise cameos of famous people of the time period.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2023 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2023/01/2023-reading-list-announced-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

3.5 - This was a decent read, not a favorite, but not horrible either! I liked the setting and thought the descriptions were all really well done, and I loved that it was a historical fiction with the twist of it also being an espionage thriller, but something didn't click for me, I think what brought the score down for me was the toxic relationship Louise was stuck in, just didn't do it for me!

Atmospheric of 1950’s New York, this was a well written historical thriller. I loved the cameos of famous writers and the era.
Many thanks to Doubleday and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A very believable glimpse into a past time. It is full of true events enahanced by fiction. Works very well and kept me enthralled.

There are some great vintage details in "The Lunar Housewife," but the story is another one suggesting that women could have triumphed in non traditional jobs in the 1950s if they'd just tried hard enough. Not the case..

From the back flap: "A stylish and suspenseful historical page-turner following an up-and-coming journalist who stumbles onto a web of secrets, deceptions, and mysteries at a popular new literary magazine--inspired by the true story of CIA intervention in Cold War American arts and letters."

I was enticed by the description of this book, which has the glamour, suspense, and romance that I enjoy in historical fiction. The description reminded me of Beatriz Williams or Renee Rosen and I am pleased to report it had similar themes; I think fans of those authors will enjoy this story.

I adored that this book featured actual literary figures, namely Hemingway, and I appreciated the 1950s New York City setting. I enjoyed various aspects of this novel, but I particularly appreciated the focus on the difficulties of being a woman who wants to write, journalistic integrity, and mixing work and pleasure. The one thing I would change is the excerpts from Louise's novel felt unnecessary, but otherwise I enjoyed this.

Definitely recommend it for fans of Renee Rosen's Park Avenue Summer!

3.5 stars rounded down.

The Lunar Housewife is a delicious novel, focusing on Louise Leithauser, an aspiring writer who finds herself on the fringes of cold war activity during the McCarthy era. The novel opens at a party in 1953, filled with literary luminaries and pretty women, gathered at a Manhattan apartment to celebrate the second issue of the magazine Downtown. Louise's boyfriend, Joe and his partner Harry are the founders. Harry's wife Glynns is drunk. Harry, a philandering SOB publicly disappears with a pretty waitress, who Louise knows but does not want to be known to know. Harry and Joe let Louise write for the magazine under a pen name. Suddenly, she is given the task of interviewing and writing an article for Downtown about Ernest "Papa" Hemingway under her own name. But the article is stripped of anything that smacks of concerns Hemingway has with the United States government, his reasons for living in Cuba, and his current novel that would not be popular with some of the cold war types in the US. Meanwhile, when she travels to Italy with Joe and they have coffee with James Baldwin, Louise shares that she is working on a novel about an American woman who defects and goes to live on the moon with a Russian astronaut. Joe is furious. Joe and Louise are in a serious relationship. Glynns trusts no one but intermittently interacts with Louise. Harry starts a long term affair with the waitress. Various turns of events leave Louise totally confounded about what secrets Joe and Harry are keeping from her, how to hide her modest background from Joe, what to do about her nosy upstairs neighbor, her once kind but now distant lawyer boss, her novel and Papa Hemingway's hat.

This novel is something of a coming of age story, with chapters including parts of Louise's novel, meant to be a romance novel so it will sell and morphing into something more, with a political and social edge. Louise is in her twenties at a time there was burgeoning recognition of womens' need to break out of stereotypes and frustrations with their designated roles. Of course from 1953-1955, these stereotypes were well-entrenched and Louise's ambitions constantly fight with a tendency to consider more conventional choices that fundamentally conflict with her career aspirations.

Don't assume all this is portrayed in a dull or pedantic way! Woods' writing and storytelling throughout is entertaining, humorous, and her dedication of the book is to her young daughters, "with a wink." She inserts a few famous people in speaking roles and many appear at parties and other settings, all included in the story flawlessly and with historic accuracy. This is done "just enough." Like Louise's novel within the novel, Woods offers us a "simple" piece of yellow cake but with a center dark chocolate, making it an intense flavorful read. Enjoy! Well worth a read and fun.

Caroline Woods is an author I will look for again. Her new book The Lunar Housewife was intriguing. I could not put it down once I started reading it.

Written as a novel within aa novel, it is the story of a young woman starting out in New York City trying to build a career during the Cold War, 1950s. It is also a time that women are not treated equally to men, not really taken seriously in the business world. Working as a waitress a party she spots a handsome young man who is starting out in the magazine publishing business. Louise is interested in becoming an author and has been working on a manuscript. Joe the handsome magazine publisher and his friend Harry are starting up the new magazine and are at the party. Louise puts herself in front of Joe and they start to date. He also asks her to write an article for the first issue of the new magazine he and his friend Harry are publishing. Of course she writes under a male pseudonym, because who would read an article written by a woman.

As the romance builds with Joe, Louise becomes more and more suspicious that there is some subversive about the relationship with Harry and the magazine. Secrets are being kept by everyone. As Louise and Joe become more attached and serious int heir relationship we are also reading a manuscript that Louise is writing a romance novel. The romance dime novel, mirrors her personal thoughts and problems in life.

Easy to read and relate to if you grew up in the 50s and 60s . Interesting to read as an historical novel.

I'm not a big historical fiction reader, but the Cold War era is a huge exception! Inspired by the real life story of the CIA’s involvement in publications like The Paris Review during the Cold War era 1950’s, an up and coming journalist at a trendy new literary magazine overhears some concerning conversations at work…involving bugs, death threats, and more. She starts to investigate and incorporates what she learns into her own novel she’s working on…titled “The Lunar Housewife" (which is included as a "book within a book"). I loved the mash-up of Cold War espionage and the 1950's NYC literary scene. There are cameos from a number of real life luminaries: Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, etc. And, this is feminist historical fiction where a woman is breaking the stereotypes of her time. Recommended for fans of The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott!

Loved this one! Louise was such an interesting and strong character, and the storyline was at times suspenseful. I also loved the story-within-the-story of the Lunar Housewife and its parallels to Louise's own situation. Thank you for my copy -- highly recommended!

This one was just fine for me, it ultimately didn't come together for me unlike other historical novels from this year.

I mostly read historical fiction, and I usually devour it. I had a hard time getting through this one and it was very close to going in my DNF pile. I don't mind a little romance here and there but I felt like romance was more the focus, with a little historical fiction thrown in. It wasn't clear to me why the main character became so suspicious and paranoid all of a sudden, I didn't really like any of the characters, the relationship with Hemingway was just odd and hard to believe, and I also found the book inside the book pretty predictable. This was just not a book for me. Thank you to NetGalley and DoubleDay for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I had difficulty really liking this book. Is it a thriller? Is it a romantic novel? Is it historical fiction? It doesn’t really seem to fit exactly into any of them. I’m also not a fan of a story within a story format. I liked the main character, Louise. She did not really seem to be the typical woman you found in the 1950s. She is strong and determined. The other main character, Joe, was not very likable. The CIA involvement is this story was very confusing. All in all this was just not a book for me.

Oh I enjoyed this one IMMENSELY! From the '50s setting (and all that came with it: women trying to find their footing in the workplace, HUAC and whispers of espionage, the underlying paranoia of not knowing who to trust) to the famous cameos - hello, Hemingway! hello, Baldwin and Hughes! - to the story-within-a-story. I was completely immersed in this world and had such a great time reading it.

I would have loved to have read a version of this that leaned more on the spy/espionage/THEY'RE listening angle and felt more could have been done with Beverly (the opening scene made it feel there would be a much bigger reveal further down the line), but overall I'm delighted to have read this one!

Where to even start? I absolutely LOVED this book! It's hands-down the best historical fiction novel I've read in 2022. Let me tell you why.

First, Louise is a great protagonist. She's determined and she fights back, which makes her easy to root for. She also can overdo it, putting her foot in her mouth at the worst of times. She makes mistakes, she isn't always the best person in the room but she never quits, in both her writing and her stubbornness for truth. She isn't silent when people tell her she's being dramatic or paranoid. I adored her, I got scared for her. Louise was a fantastic POV for this story.

Then the pacing, which is completely spot-on. This is historical fiction with a thriller-ish twist, a mystery that keeps you reading long after you meant to put the book down. The Cold War suspense vibe is very up my alley (many years studying this time period though from the Soviet side) and added a great layer of tension throughout the story. I really enjoyed the inclusion of some Hemingway as a side character and thought it fit well, a challenge when adding in a real-life historical figure into fiction.

The ending was absolute perfection, both the novel one and the one in Louise's novel which is written throughout the book. In fact, I enjoyed the excerpts of Louise's novel so much, I would've read the whole thing if that had been an option! There was a twist in there (I can't even reference what it's about because you don't deserve spoilers) that was SO good I gasped aloud. Books within books are tricky and this author pulled it off beautifully.

I can't get enough of this book. A great protagonist, solid historical research, interesting time period, thriller-esque moments, pacing that won't let you stop, and intriguing book-within-book chapters. It hit all the high notes! I just finished it an hour ago and have already recommended it to several family and friends. It's really great. I hope you give it a try!


Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

I really wanted to like this book but too often found myself asking "what am I reading"? I think this book has a great premise it just didn't work for me.