Sisterhood, struggles, mixed backgrounds...this was incredibly compelling and a very very well written historical fiction novel.

‘Brewing a cup of tea, she took it to the chaise and sat down with her book. It lay unopened on her lap as she contemplated the silence. It was good to have a space to oneself where one could think and dream and plan.’

The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club is a worthy read for people who love books about books. Set in 1954 it details the lives of four girls from varying socio-economic backgrounds who are struggling to meld their own dreams with those of family and society. When the local bookshop owner starts up a classic book club, it becomes the avenue, through the use of classic literature, to analyse their own lives. This is a coming-of-age story of young friendships and fallouts.

‘…. through books we can find out more about the world and see where our imaginations take us.’

There are alternating chapters between daily life and the monthly book club discussions. Alice selects a range of classic books including F.Scott Fitzgerald, Tolstoy, Brontë, Austen, Woolf - and uses the issues raised to insightfully discuss and then somewhat apply the lessons to the lives and challenges these young women of the 1950s face. There are stereotypical class levels and incidents, many of which readers have seen before. I did have a couple of doubts about how certain aspects played out, but I let that go for my overall enjoyment of joining classic literature as a vehicle to steer these young women onto bigger and better things. It was the combination of literature to fuel the proverbial fire for these young females and the various paths they would find themselves on that appealed to me the most. With issues raised including sexual violence and domestic abuse, the author does a solid job of sensitively addressing them.

‘Women weren’t china dolls for men to pamper and care for with the caveat that they never speak their minds. They were living, breathing human beings with thoughts and feelings and emotions that were meant to be expressed however they chose to do it.’

If you love books about books with a special focus on the impact of classic literature on 1950s female societal evolution, you are sure to enjoy this book. The list of books are specifically curated (it even had me rushing to read one that I had not come across before) with the discussions lively and engaging.

‘All four of them were probably only delaying the marriage process by a few months, a couple of years at most, and then, if they weren’t careful, many avenues of thought would close to them. How likely would they be as young women to read books that challenged or interested them when there was a household to run and pregnancies to endure?’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for my copy of The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club..

This historical fiction is set in 1954 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Alice has moved from Chicago to realize her dreams of owning a bookstore. 4 young women who go to Radcliffe - Tess, Carolina, Evie and Merritt all find the bookshop a haven as they are getting used to their new life as newly independent college women.

This book is about books, sisterhood, friendship, dreams set in a time when many women went to college for their Mrs. Degrees around social issues in the 1950s.

Massachusetts, 1954. Alice Campbell escapes halfway across the country to find herself in front of a derelict building tucked among the cobblestone streets of Cambridge, and she turns that sad little shop into the charming bookstore of her dreams.

Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt become fast friends in the sanctuary of Alice's monthly reading club at The Cambridge Bookshop, where they escape the pressures of being newly independent college women in a world that seems to want to keep them in the kitchen. But they each embody very different personalities, and when a member of the group finds herself shattered, everything they know about each other―and themselves―will be called into question.

A love letter to books The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club explores how women forge their own paths, regardless of what society expects of them, and illuminates the importance of literature and the vital conversations it sparks.

(I was given an ARC as compliments of NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark. This is my honest review)

The Radcliffe Ladies Reading Club provides insight on young women that attend Radcliffe in the '50s and how a book club brings unexpected changes to their lives. The book focuses on Evie, Merritt, Tess, and Caroline four college students that soon become friends despite their differences.

Caroline seems to be the boy crazy one, Evie the one determined to be a happily married woman, the reserved Tess, and the one seeking her own path Merritt. While the story includes all four young women truly the story seems to center mostly on Caroline and Tess.

Sure there are moments that give insight into the lives of all four but the reader begins to realize that the wealthy Caroline and the practical Tess are not quite how the reader imagined. Truly, as the book club continues most of the girls seem to question their place in the world as women of the 1950's.

Some seem to be determined to stay with the norm while others in the group looking for something more. Especially when they begin to realize that the shop keeper, Alice, has made a life of her own. Alice Campbell owns her own book shop and has divorced her husband and still has carried on.

All the girls seem to grow through their reading of the classics and begin to question life how they have known it. However, life changes come the Christmas dance when Caroline is placed in an unwilling circumstance that forever impacts her life and the bond of the girls.

What makes matters worse is when Tess jumps to conclusions and begins to voice her opinion over what she has determined as truth. Tess' actions in turn cause a chain reaction that sends the girls on a path of near destruction of everything that had planned.

While the story ends on a relatively positive note, there are some moments that left me questioning the book. It seemed to me the author left some of the girls to embrace their future and come into their own while others are set in their cookie cutter expectation of a woman of the 1950's . No matter the case it seemed that all women ended up happy in the end.

All in all this was a feel good read that made the reader truly contemplate the nature of women through the ages. From the classic depictions in novels to the experiences of these girls in the 1950's the reader can see how so much has changed even while so much has stayed the same.

If you want a story that tells a tale of the friendship of women and girls becoming women then this book is recommended. I have to warn that there is a scene of rape, conversations of abortion, and contemplation of suicide so go in to the book knowing this. Until next time, happy reading!

The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas was a very compelling historical fiction novel. This character driven novel took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts on both Radcliffe’s and Harvard’s campuses and in a bookstore that was built around one woman’s dream. College life and college education for women during the 1950’s was very different from the one that exists today. Although women attended colleges and universities in the 1950’s, many aspired to earning their MRS. degrees. Society norms dictated that women attended colleges or universities to secure a husband. The expectations for women, despite their college education, was to keep house and take care of their family. There was definitely a double standard for women in those times. What happened when a woman took her education to another level and went against the norms? Could any of those women rise above the standards that were expected and improve their lives and fulfill their dreams and desires?

In 1954, Alice Campbell escaped her life in Chicago and arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts with the goal of opening a bookstore. Alice saw books as a bridge between real life and escape into new possibilities. After her bookstore was up and running, Alice decided to organize a book club. She had flyers printed to advertise the book club and hoped she would attract serious readers that would be open to discuss the books they chose to read.

At about this time, a new batch of incoming freshman women were beginning their college education at Radcliffe. One of the women, Tess Collins, was handed a flyer. Tess urged her roommate, Caroline Hanson and two others, Evie Miller and Meritt Weber, to attend. These women became the best of friends. They spent their freshman year going to book club meetings. Alice was very good at selecting just the right books to read. Her goal was to select books that would lead to lively discussions and that allowed the women to express their feelings and thoughts about the book that they had all read. Alice and her bookstore became friends to the group of freshmen women over the course of the year. Beside the book club, Tess, Caroline, Evie and Meritt experienced all the things freshmen students were meant to do. They studied hard, at least some did, attended dances and social events that were held on Harvard’s campus and kept their eyes peeled for good looking men who could become potential husbands. Caroline was different from the other three friends. She had grown up leading a privileged life.

Then one night something terrible happened to one of the women. One of the four friend’s life was upended in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, the other three failed to act upon the changes they recognized in their friend’s behavior and lifestyle. They expected the changes were the result of the most obvious causes but it was far from what they expected. The circumstances would end up generating serious consequences and repercussions for all.

Julia Bryan Thomas skillfully captured the realistic expectations for women during this time period. I am so thankful that the lives and opportunities for women have evolved so dramatically since then. There is still room for improvement and progress but I am thankful that the roles of women are no longer one dimensional as they were back then. I really enjoyed the parts in The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club that centered around the book club. It was nice that Alice became an influential figure in the women’s lives. Overall, I enjoyed reading The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club and recommend it.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read The Radcliffe Ladies’ Readiing Club by Julia Bryan Thomas through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

If you move the plot from the movie "Mona Lisa smile" to a book club moderated by a bookstore owner instead of an art class taught by a progressive university teacher, you've got the gist of what this book is about. I was interested in the chapters when they meet to discuss the book picks but then those chats stopped to give space to subplots I've seen in a million movies surrounding this era.

I cannot remember the last time I read a book I was so irritated by characters. I mean I was pissed off. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction but mostly about the war. This wasn’t and I really liked it. It was a great book I finished it within a day.

I am still irritated by the characters but I’m so glad I read this book.

“After all, she believed that challenging one’s ideals was the purpose of studying books, not necessarily to change behavior but to inform one’s thought. Let them be housewives if that was their greatest desire, but let them be mathematicians and scientists and professors if they so wished. Women deserved the right to dream as well as men.”

Blurb: Massachusetts, 1954. With bags packed alongside her heavy heart, Alice Campbell escaped halfway across the country and found herself in front of a derelict building tucked among the cobblestone streets of Cambridge. She turns it into the enchanting bookshop of her dreams, knowing firsthand the power of books to comfort the brokenhearted. The Cambridge Bookshop soon becomes a haven for Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt, who are all navigating the struggles of being newly independent college women in a world that seems to want to keep them in the kitchen. But when a member of the group finds herself shattered, everything they know about themselves will be called into question.

My thoughts: I really loved the premise of this one, it kind of gave me Mona Lisa Smile (you know the movie with Julia Roberts?) vibes from the start, and the book club centered on classic novels out of her book store? Sign me up! This book was very realistic to those times and the little to no respect women had and it was real, and raw and heartbreaking at times. I really enjoyed the Radcliffe college setting and was intrigued from the start with that! I do feel like the Characters lacked a little depth in some parts and back story was needed, and there is a rape scene that just came out of no where I feel like and I'm not seeing any trigger warnings regarding that, so that kind of bummed me out! But other then that, I did enjoy this pretty little book! Thank you so much @bookmarked for gifting it to me!

I give The Radcliffe Ladies' reading club by Julia Bryan Thomas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Though set in 1955, the characters in The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club struck a chord with me, and they and their experiences as first-year students at Radcliffe were in many ways reminiscent of my own (somewhat later) early college years. Four young women from very different backgrounds come together as suite-mates at Radcliffe, the women's college that was then a "sister-school" to all-male Harvard. When one of the girls learns of a book club being started by a neighborhood bookseller, the group decides to participate. Interspersed with chapters focused on their discussions of the classic titles selected are chapters in which we learn about their families, their relationships, and their activities in Cambridge. I found it a very engaging novel until about 80% through, when the story took a turn that seemed somewhat inconsistent with the characters as they'd been presented to that point. Even with this turn, the novel was quite enjoyable and made me wish I and my college friends had also had a mentor as wise and caring as Alice was for these girls.

I received an e-galley of The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas from Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good book about a book club and this was definitely one that came with a lot of surprises and a cast of unlikely friends. But rather than finding myself rooting for the group of unlikely friends, I found myself wanting to see them separated as it was soon evident that the friendships were too toxic for those involved. I thought that it was a really great story about female relationships and the ways in which women often turn against each other rather than supporting one another. But also in the ways that they can rise to the occasion and that when women do support women, positive change can be created.

I love reading books about books or bookstores. From the title and the cover, I did expect more bookstore related content, but I did get an interesting insight into these characters by reading about their book discussions analyzing classic books they read throughout this story.

This book is really a look into a slice of history, including women’s roles in society and education. There are also some very serious topics that are dealt with in this book. In fact, the book started out a little slowly for me until about halfway through and then Wow, did it ever take a turn into serious topic territory!

I loaned this book to my mom who was visiting for the week and she finished it in two days!

If you enjoy historical fiction or books about books, give this one a try!

I enjoyed this book about Alice and four young women at Radcliffe College, set in 1954. This was a beautifully written story. This one is for you if you do enjoy women’s literature, historical fiction vibes, and books about books.

This is a story of four young college students in the 1955 who meet a bookseller, Alice that is starting a book club. In this book club, the women study other women from history and discuss love, being a woman, its inherently restrictive nature, and how they can break norms. When one of the young women goes through a traumatic event, it changes the course of all 4 lives and we follow them through it. I enjoyed the themes of growing into yourself in this novel and appreciated the four different paths these women go on. My favorite parts of the books were the introductory quotes in each chapter and the sage advice the women learn from fictional women.

This book was enjoyable enough of a read though I’ll be honest, for this slightly cynical and picky reader, it was at times hard to care about any of the characters in the story. The book focuses on one year in a life of four main characters, fresh women in Radcliffe College in 1955-1956. They are four archetypes of women and their options of late 50s. Two of them Dd in college to find fun and a husband, one is an artist pursuing her mother’s dream lost upon marriage, and the last is an aspiring author. All roommates; they join a book club led by a divorced woman owner (oh my) of a local bookshop and through a reading of a variety of curated books she picks to help open their minds, we see them progressing through their first year and learn about their hopes, dreams and aspirations, both bound by societal expectations and burgeoning confidence in their own abilities and womanhood.

The plot of the book honestly reminded me of the movie Mona Lisa Smile. The movie was better but the book is a good enough, uncomplicated read that does touch upon taboo ideas in the 40s. So beware, there are descriptions of graphic violence

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book! The story is set in the 1950s and follows four young women at Radcliffe College, an all-women's college in Massachusetts. Tess is a studious, slightly anti-social bookworm who favors rule-following and traditional values. Evie has a boy back home who she's planning to marry. Merritt is a California girl with a father who essentially leaves her to herself. Caroline is a gorgeous socialite from high-class Rhode Island. The four develop a friendship that begins with Tess discovering a book club at a bookshop near campus. The four girls attend and read a book each month under the leadership of the bookshop owner, Alice. Throughout their time at Radcliffe, the girls learn about love, family, heartbreak, and the expectations that society has for them - and the ones they have for themselves.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book because I think that everyone can find a bit of themselves in at least one of them. They're each very real and represent a very different kind of person and upbringing. Being a woman in 1950s Massachusetts was not an easy feat - women were still very much expected to stay in the home and kitchen, and the idea that women could be professionals was one that was still not widely accepted. This novel explores a lot of that whole notion, which wasn't exactly enjoyable to read, but it illuminates a true part of our history. I found Merritt, Alice, and Caroline to be my favorite characters (and Ken to be my least favorite, for obvious reasons). It's a heartfelt and emotional story about what it's like to a be a woman in the 1950s, and about defying what others have in mind for you in favor of following your own heart.

An engaging story of four young women in the 1950s, all from different backgrounds, meeting at Radcliffe College. Radcliffe was a liberal arts college for women and was the women's equivalent to Harvard at the time (it merged with Harvard in 1999).

The new friendship group join a book club hosted by local bookshop owner, Alice Campbell, who is not long divorced. Alice sets out to challenge the young women's sense of self and the role of women through the book club choices.

The book club themes crossover into the women's experience of college life and a life-changing traumatic experience for one of them marks the undoing of each of their hopes, plans and what they had been raised to believe about their role and value in society.

This is a good read - and while I loved the premise of the literary discussions driving the story, I wanted more about the characters and each of their stories. 3⭐️

Thanks to #NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the e-book in return for an honest review.

In 1954, Alice Campbell escapes halfway across the country to the streets of Cambridge. There, she turns a sad little building into her dream bookstore. Tess, Caroline, Evie and Merritt become friends when they join Alice’s monthly book club. There, they can escape their everyday pressures of being college women in a time when women were new to that. But when one of the members is shattered, everything they have come to know about each other will be called into question.

First and foremost - who doesn’t love a book mainly set in a bookstore? I adored this little bookstore and how Alice build it up from scratch and the friendships formed between her and the other young ladies too. Cambridge is also one of my favorite settings! I haven’t read anything set there during this particular time frame either so that was fun. Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and the author for the ARC! “The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Room” released June 6th! This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle).

This book is an engaging historical fiction story about four women who attend Radcliffe college in the 1950s. I will admit I was expecting more of the storyline to be centered around reading and the book club. Instead, a large focus was on discrimination of women, rape/assault, unplanned pregnancy, and navigating romance in a time that was not friendly to women in general. I was not prepared for the amount of focus on the rape, so if that is a trigger for readers they should proceed accordingly.

I enjoyed the book club dialogues and wish there was a bit more of that woven in. At times I felt that I wanted more development of each of the characters, as their storylines were slightly hard to keep track of at certain moments.

Overall this was an enjoyable historical women’s fiction.

This was a quick read, although I did stay up into the wee hours of the morning because I just had to finish it. A book club of 5 women, one a bookseller and the other four were young women attending Radcliffe College in the early 1950's. Learning to find their way in a male-dominated world and exploring the expectations that their families and society placed upon them as women, they challenged each other with their thoughts and actions through the discussion of books, guided by Alice, a newly divorced woman who left an oppressive marriage. I loved all the choices and references to the classics and their relevance to what the girls were going through in their lives. They all came from differing SES backgrounds, but all had their secrets about their relationships within their families. I loved the dynamics between the four girls, as while fast four friends, they were not true confidants and there were some tensions and jealousy feelings that played a part that affected their lives. As Alice tried to guide them, she wanted them to see what their unlimited possibilities could be as women, while still allowing them to voice their opinions and values on traditional and nontraditional roles. After a traumatic event, the dynamics change and they are set on a course that will forever change their lives. Truthfully, I didn't like all these characters, but that is to be expected. I had empathy for them though as some of the girls could never see outside themselves and that proved their downfall. This would be a great read for a book club and really makes you think and reflect.
Many thanks to #netgalley #theradcliffeladiesreadingclub #juliabryanthomas for the opportunity to read and review this book.