This book was like a sneak attack. It starts out all sweet and normie and then boom drama with a capital D with a side of nasty D. Think of Sex Lives of College Girls but set in the 1950s.

We follow 4 women at Radcliffe College:

💵 Caroline - She’s the rich, beautiful one there for the boys

✍️ Tess - Only there to study and uphold rules

👩🏻‍🌾 Evie - Farm girl in love with high school sweetie on a big girl adventure, trad wife in the making

🎨 Merritt - Wants to be an artist, but doesn’t see a career path

The four women join a book club at a local bookstore run by Alice, a sort of grown up Jo March. The five women meet on the last Thursday of every month to discuss a book that Alice has chosen.

The books include:

Jane Eyre
A Room of One’s Own
The Age of Innocence
Anna Karenina
The Great Gatsby
Gift From The Sea
Emma

Each woman discusses their own takeaways of the book that reflect their own viewpoints of what it means to be a woman in the 50s, and what it might mean in the future.

All of the texts are very cleverly woven through and parallel the narrative of the book. You don’t have to know the other books. You get the gist of them when they meet.

My only critique is I wanted more book club discussions! I think if you are in a IRL book club you will really enjoy this book PLUS it digs into the guts of early feminism and how it’s reflected in literature.

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Landmark @bookmarked and @Netgalley for the ARC of The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas. This book was both emotionally painful to read and unputdownable. I read this in one day.

Set in the 1950s, this character driven novel tells the story of four women who meet in their first year of college at Radcliffe. Alice owns her own bookshop in Cambridge and welcomes the girls to a monthly book discussion that engages and challenges the women as they learn not only about themselves, but also about the world around them.

Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view (I do wish the chapters were labeled) and I felt all the feels reading this – sometimes I wanted to reach through the pages and shake a character and other times I felt my heart breaking right along. While the women are college aged, this felt like a beautiful coming of age story as it is the first time these women are not living at home and are on their own. A book that I’m still thinking about long after I finished.

The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club by Julia Bryan Thomas is a book about books, sisterhood, college life, and friendship.

It’s 1954 and broken-hearted Alice Campbell turns a rundown building on a cobblestone street in Cambridge into a charming bookshop. She loves books and knows their power and ability to comfort. She invites a few nearby young college students to form a book club. Alice, Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt form a deep friendship and support system as they discuss books and life issues.

Each young woman has a unique background and life expectations. It required some time for me to find them all likable. I applaud the author for changing my mind. The story focuses on the four members of the book club and I would have liked more character development for Alice, bookstore owner and mentor. Although a small group is lovely, I keep wondering why the book club didn’t grow and why the owner stopped promoting it after acquiring four members. It seems like there might be more interest in this academic environment. However, there is a concern about overwhelming the story with too many characters and issues. I would have loved a few upstanding and supportive male side characters as well.

One of the most powerful themes in the story is sisterhood. We don’t all have to come from the same background or have the same experiences or think the same way to form a bond. I always love a women-supporting-women trope.

I appreciate the book club as a safe place for these young adult women. If you are in a book club, do you enjoy a sense of safety there?

Despite the sisterhood, supportive and welcoming environment, and cozy atmosphere of the bookshop, there are tragic and serious themes in the story.

If you love books about books, you might love the bookish discussions around specific classic books throughout the story! Alice curates her book list carefully and with a purpose in mind for this book club. This is especially meaningful if you’ve also read these books (but not necessary).

If you you are OK with some dfficult content and love women’s fiction, books about books, and themes of sisterhood and friendship, you might enjoy The Radcliffe Ladies’ Book Club. It’s also highly discussable for book clubs.

Content Consideration: Rape, unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage, suicidal thoughts

Thanks #NetGalley @BerkleyPub @SourceBooks #SourceBooksLandmark for a complimentary e ARC of #TheRadcliffeLadiesReadingClub upon my request. All opinions are my own.

I so enjoyed this book! I really love how the author took us into Boston 1955 and the Boston girls college. She did such a fabulous job developing the characters that they came right off the page. The only one thing that I have a complaint about is that I really wish that the author further developed the bookstore character. I would have liked to know more about her life but other than that it was a fabulous book and I would recommend it two lovers of books said in the 50s and about women coming into their own. Such a wonderful book. When I put it down it really left me with a heartwarmed feeling. Just lovely.

I went into this book blind, meaning when I requested it from NetGalley it sounded like something I would enjoy, and by the time I read it last week I had totally forgotten what it was about. Which is a great way to read, imho.

Alice is the owner of the book shop having recently relocated to Boston from Chicago. She starts a book club that garnish the attention of Tess, a Radcliffe student. Tess in turn convinces her roommate, Caroline and fellow classmates to join. The bookclub part was a nice touch. I have never read any of the books that were featured but am curious now, given that I was a fly on the wall listening to the discussions. Suffice to say I have since added them all to my TBR.

This story takes place in the 1950s, a time when women pursuing higher education was uncommon. Most women were expected to focus on getting married and starting a family. But then there are these four older teens, each with their own unique backgrounds, personalities, and goals.

The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club is a well written coming of age story that was true to the times. It's about friendship, status and pulled at the heartstrings. It would make a great book club read - lots of themes to discuss. This is my first time reading a Julie Bryan Thomas book, I will be on the lookout for more of her books.

My thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for a digital art and exchange for a honest review. This book releases tomorrow.

I enjoyed this book and the slice of life it offered of a Boston girls college in 1955. For those that love Mona Lisa Smile movie, then they’ll love this book. I wish we got more of the bookstore owner’s life, but I did enjoy how in depth the author went of the 4 main characters. Will definitely recommend!

I just finished The Radcliffe ladies’ reading club by Julia Bryan Thomas and here are my thoughts.

Alice loves her little book shop. It’s 1954 and women are rarely allowed to aspire to want things outside of a house, husband and kids but not Alice. Books are her life.

She wants to share her love of reading with other women so when she sets up a book club at the store, she is over the moon when college students Tess, Caroline, Evie and Merritt all show up to discuss the first book.

The girls all find safety and independence within the walls of Alice’s bookstore and when the worst of the worst happens to one of the girls…. Alice is there to help get her through it.
Wow, this book was so good. I am a sucker for historical fiction that empowers women and this one really warmed my heart. Women in the 50s were pretty much just homemakers and trying to figure out who you are back then must have been so hard.
Alice became the mother figure to the 4 girls in a way that she not only protected them and encouraged them to voice their own opinions but she showed them that you don’t have to just be someone's wife to be fulfilled. The setting of 1950s Massachusetts was brilliant and it made me want to go there during fall. The writing was lucid and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book.
I don’t usually put trigger warnings in but I will add one this time.
TW Rape resulting in pregnancy/miscarriage.
I would have liked some more development on the characters. I felt like I didn’t understand why Tess was the way she was and that left me with a slightly empty feeling. It would have been more well rounded with some more back story on all 4 of the girls and Alice but maybe it was leaving it open for spin off books. I could get on board with that.
4 stars. I finished it in one sitting and I was so entertained the whole way through. If you love historical fiction that discusses books, this is a winner.
Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebooks for my gifted copy
#netgalley #sourcebooks #juliabryanthomas #theradcliffeladiesreadingclub #booksaboutbooks #bookstagram #bookstagram #bookblogger #bookalorian #booklover

This story takes place in Massachusetts, 1954. Alice Campbell escaped a marriage that she was ill-suited for, and opened a bookshop in Cambridge. She puts out flyers advertising a book club, hoping some of her customers may be interested in joining. Four Radcliffe students - Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt- decide to join her for the book club, and they soon view her shop as a safe space, and Alice as a confidante. As they read and discuss such famous works as " Anna Karenina", "Emma", "The Age of Innocence" and "A Room Of One's Own", their friendships are put to the test as their differences in opinion create huge chasms at times, Before their freshman year is up at Radcliffe, all four will have to make decisions on the trajectory they want their lives to take - marriage or career, move back home or strike out on their own.

This book was excellent. It started out a bit of a slow burn for me, but once I got into it, I didn't want to put it down. I really liked Alice. She was a feminist who wanted to empower other women to think for themselves, and not rely on a man to think for them. Caroline and Tess were roommates, and even though Caroline was really wealthy, she was a lot more likeable than Tess. Tess was at Radcliffe on scholarship, and was very high strung and, well, I can't think of a nice way to say this - she acted like she had a stick up her butt, She was judgmental, jealous, and generally unpleasant. Evie and Merritt were also roommates and Evie was boy-crazy and mainly wanted to get married, while Merritt was an art major and was more interested in a career than finding a husband. This was an emotional read that I think any woman would enjoy.

If the movie Mona Lisa Smile was set around a bookstore instead of an art class you'd have the perfect description for the feel of this book.
Your focus is more on the experiences, and lives of a group of young women who just so happen to join in the particular book club. Said book club feels much more like an afterthought in comparison.
If you're into self, discovery chick-lit then this is right up your alley.

4 young woman attend a woman’s college in Massachusetts’s in 1955. They form a friendship and meet Alice, a bookshop owner, who starts a book club and gets to know the young women.

I enjoy books about books, and loved the premise of this one. Unfortunately, I’m sad to say this book just wasn’t for me. I liked how many of the books the women read could be connected to their real life, and how as women they were seen as property of men and just in college to find a husband. I felt the pace of the story to be too slow for me, with a lot of character development, and the big problem of the story gave me the icks (check TWs: sexual assault). I feel this book will be a favorite for many, it just wasn’t something I loved.

This is an easy quick read perfect for summer.
It’s 1954 and Alice Campbell has decided to make a big change in her life, giving up everything for independence. So she buys a small book shop in Boston and makes it her own. One day, Alice decides to create a book club where individuals will meet once a month to discuss books of her choosing…and they just so happen to be books about and/or written by women who are, themselves searching for a life to call their own. Alice's little book club is made of four young women (Tess, Caroline, Evie, and Merritt) who just happen to be attending nearby Radcliffe College, all are young and edited with their own new found independence.
I liked this book well enough. It was a very quick read that was suitable after a work day where I had to tax my brain. I found the description of Alice’s bookshop and the details of the simple life she has created for herself is simply charming. I also enjoyed the simplicity of characterization, it was easy to understand the choices and motivations of each. My favourite part of the novel was how the author attempted to weave the various themes of the books studied in the book club with the lives of the characters who read them. (Jane Eyre, Age of Innocence, Essays of Virginia Wolfe).

Trigger warning for sexual assault and miscarriage.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

2.75/5 stars

I think I had different expectations for this book going in - I expected more historical fiction and it turned out to be more women’s fiction in the past. Which is fine, but not my taste.

I think the writing was strong, and the characters were well defined. For me, the plot just made me bored and, toward the early end, cringe. The lack of character development by some characters wasn’t quite balanced by the large growth in others, and I just….it wasn’t enjoyable suspense or shock, it was just difficult to read.

I definitely think there is a large audience for this story, I’m just not it.

This book intrigued me with its potential to create a reflection on independent women who seemed to be trapped in the ideals of the 1950s. Set in Boston at Radcliffe College and a sweet little bookshop in Cambridge, we meet Alice who owns that said bookshop and starts a book club. Four roommates and friends join Alice every month. In the bookshop and Alice, they find a safe haven from the world. Each of the young women attending Radcliffe College are quite different, and each of their experiences are not what I would expect from the stereotypical characteristics they portrayed.
The linking of each of the books the young women read each month to the lives and times of the era was clever. The themes from each book seemed to be lightly woven into the chapters and stories of each young woman. I was hoping that there was a much more indepth look into each of the college women to really bring out their personalities and provide a deeper look into 1950s life for women.

This review will be posted on June 5, 2023 to: https://instagram.com/amandas.bookshelf

Intriguing historical fiction set in post-World War II Boston. A new bookshop opens in Cambridge, owned by Alice, a determined and independent woman. Four freshman Radcliffe students (Caroline, Tess, Merritt, and Evie) join the new shop's monthly book club. From there, all four girls experience growth and the opportunity for change over the course of a year. I found the traditional gender role mindset of some of the freshmen infuriating, but the author did an excellent job of presenting the inner thoughts of the characters. At times, some of Alice's thoughts about the freshmen and her goals for book club seemed repetitive and, therefore, boring. But, overall, this was a really satisfying novel about a time period I don't often read too much about. #TheRadcliffeLadiesReadingClub Rating: 🙂 / liked it
•
This book is scheduled for publication on June 6, 2023. Thank you @bookmarked for providing me this digital ARC via @NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Oh this one sent me back to the bookshelf to pull out a few of my old favorites! Julia opens a bookstore in Cambridge, Mass, using a small inheritance, and starts a book club. Tess, a serious student, brings her roommate Caroline and friends Merritt and Evie along to the first meeting, where they discuss Jane Eyre and then it becomes part of their lives. Their freshman year at college brings changes in their lives but mostly for Caroline, a wealthy woman who is presumed to be interested only in marriage. Tess is an enigma with a back story that's mysterious and not well explained but golly is she rigid. Merritt, an artist, and Evie, who is most interested it seems in her Princeton boyfriend are not particularly well fleshed out. In fact, this loses something in characters that's made up by discussions of the various books they read (although these get less detailed). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read

<b>2.75⭐️</b> Books and book clubs opening minds and drawing people together, mid-‘50s Radcliffe, young women on the brink of the discoveries of life -- the blurb for <i>The Radcliffe Ladies Reading Club</i> is brief, but at least somewhat promising in its premise (I too immediately got “Mona Lisa Smile” vibes), but the story falls short of this setup early and often. While the readability is there, it goes from the most bland potato salad tone to aaall the drama in the blink of an eye without really getting you to care or even be all that interested in the characters and their lives before it takes off with a frankly over-used plot device (see CW below).
Now, I get that the status quo needs to be established before a good shake-up, but the first third or more of those book extremely safe and ho-hum for way too long, with almost nothing about the story or characters pinging your brain to start asking questions or seeing any path this story could possibly take; I felt like I would be reading about these girls’ day to day life at Radcliffe forever. Most of the characters are pretty stereotypical and almost wooden in their depictions, though I still did like Caroline and Alice to a degree, but I wonder if what happens to Caroline really informs my gravitating toward her character and narrative vs. actually building up an interesting, well-rounded character. And I say, “to a degree,” for Alice because we never get to truly know enough about her.
The runaway pace of the drama does kind of sweep you up, but overall this story and its characters felt shallow when I was expecting a lot more. I did root for Caroline and was concerned for her through her ordeal and was touched by Merritt standing by her, but it wasn’t enough to carry this mediocre story for me. Might be more interesting if you’re not very familiar with the time period or want something a little faster and fluffed out, but this historical fiction lacked a lot of depth all over the place for me.

<b>CW:</b> rape, assault, teen pregnancy, depression

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an e-ARC of this book.</i>

*Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for my gifted eARC. Publication date 6/6/23*

2.5 stars

Set in the 1950's four girls instantly become friends after meeting at college. They see an ad to join a bookclub at The Cambridge Bookshop and they befriend the shop owner Alice. They meet once a month to discuss the book and also talk about their lives, boys, opinions on life and other stuff going on in the world.

I was so excited to read this book. I love books about books, bookstores, and bookclubs, but unfortunately this one was not my favorite. The bookclub meeting parts bored me as they talked about the book they read for that month, and all the ramblings of their personal lives. Just a little too much talking and preaching for me.

Alice’s book shop and especially her book club becomes as safe space for the four girls — Tess, Evie, Caroline and Merritt. All of these women have unique backgrounds and personalities. I struggled with Tess at times with some of the things that transpired.. especially near the middle and end of the book.

It started off strong, fell a little flat in the middle for me but then picked up again at the end. We learn a little bit about Alice but not a lot of information on her. And I know it’s so small and doesn’t matter to the story but the book club was only Alice and the four girls. Was no more advertising done? No one else could join? Ha!

It was fun reading the book that was centered around a book club and some classic books. Made my book lover heart happy.

Overall, a good book that explores themes of coming-of-age, expectations, and friendships.

***cw/tw: rape, pregnancy, miscarriage, suicidal thoughts***

[ Thank you to the publisher & netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own! ]

In 1954. Alice Campbell escapes halfway across the country in front of a derelict building tucked among the cobblestone streets of Cambridge, and 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 gripping, inspiring, homage to books set against the backdrop of one of the most pivotal periods in American history, 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.

This is such a well written book focusing on women's roles and expectations in the 50's. it is hard to believe that this is only the author's second book. The characters are all so well written, each with their only backgrounds, and how these backgrounds affect them as they feel out their independence in a college setting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for introducing me to a new author that I look forward to reading again in the future.

I was intrigued from the second I saw this cover and even more so as I read the blurb on the back. Overall I was pleased with it and thought it was well done. I will say that I didn’t think any of the characters were as fully developed as I would have liked and at times that made the story feel like it wasn’t fully flowing well. This story is about 4 girls who start Radcliffe College at the same time and become fast friends. They are all different and want different things from their education, but they form a quick friendship and join a Cambridge bookshop owner for a book club. The book is set in the 1950’s and while women are slowly gaining some momentum but women still lack a variety of options as the girls discover. I loved the glimpses of the book club meetings and questions about various books which added something additional to the story.