The Trouble with you was so much more than a woman “choosing” a safe or ethical man. Truly, this was a book that was a picture of feminism in its simplest form as we follow Fanny in her journey of self discovery. It tackled such a different side of the post-WWII experience by highlighting the growing independence of women as they adjusted into the new normal of having their men return from war.

We began this book on Christmas Day where the impossible happened: Fanny was left a widow by her dearly beloved husband. This aching early discovery reveals the typical romance of the time as Fanny and Max meet and fall in love before he is send to war as an army doctor in WWII. The world that followed was challenging as the men of the time tried to reacclimatize to “normal life” while also creating a new war to fight with what was referred to as the Red Wave.

Reading this story, we did, of course, see Fanny struggle with how to navigate being the best version of herself for her young daughter. It was such a relatable struggle to read: a mother trying her very best in the worst possible circumstance to provide a meaningful life for her child. Every choice Fanny made, from her choice of job position, her failed engagement, and ultimately her finding happiness, was made with a keen understanding that Chloe was seeing all. She deeply understood that she needed to invest in herself to invest in her daughter, which was so beautiful to read.

I also really appreciated that this book tackled situations and stereotypes that affect women and their equitable treatment in society to this very day. I found Fanny’s story to be inspiring and I would definitely recommend to all of the incredible women in my life.

Another great historical fiction novel by Ellen Feldman. Centering on Fanny Fabricant, who finds herself a widow shortly after her husband returns from WWII. Both the shock of her husband's passing and the somewhat less respect she garners as a "not-war widow" pushes her to find a way to form her own identity and livelihood to support herself and young daughter Chloe. Unable initially to try to find a new husband to fill the emotional and financial void, she finds work as a secretary for a radio serial producer and ultimately navigates her way into scriptwriting. Fanny tries to push a more independent path and comes up against the very traditional expectations and mores of her boyfriend Ezra and cousin Mimi that were the norm in the 1950s. Her feminist struggles along with the backdrop of McCarthyism and the constant threat of blacklists for writers, actors and producers make this story both an interesting read and one that is still relevant to current day challenges faced by women (demanding equal pay) and . authors (seeing their books being pulled from school libraries). A solid well researched story with great writing and a protagonist that you can't help but root for. The ending may be a bit predictable but is still very satisfying. Readers of WWII and US 20th century fiction will enjoy this read. Highly recommend!

Synopsis (from Netgalley, the provider of the book to review)
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In an exuberant post-WWII New York City, a young woman is forced to reinvent her life and choose between the safe and the ethical, and the men who represent each.

Set in New York City in the heady aftermath of World War II when the men were coming home, the women were exhaling in relief, and everyone was having babies, The Trouble With You is the story of a young woman whose rosy future is upended in a single instant. Raised never to step out of bounds, educated in one of the Sister Seven Colleges for a career as a wife and mother, torn between her cousin Mimi who is determined to keep her a “nice girl”―the kind that marries a doctor―and her aunt Rose who has a rebellious past of her own, Fanny struggles to raise her young daughter and forge a new life by sheer will and pluck.

When she gets a job as a secretary to the “queen” of radio serials―never to be referred to as soaps―she discovers she likes working, and through her friendship with an actress who stars in the series and a man who writes them, comes face to face with the blacklist which is destroying careers and wrecking lives. Ultimately, Fanny must decide between playing it safe or doing what she knows is right in this vivid evocation of a world that seems at once light years away and strangely immediate.

It seems like Fanny has a family that is as confused as mine is over rules of what was expected of a woman in the 1950s as my mother was: her ambition was to get off the farm and marry a man with income potential … she did that. (My mom was and still is the ultimate micro-manager of everything … including my life when she is not hyper-focused on her perfect, non-adopted/biological son…maybe I need to write THAT book).

Like Fanny wrecking lives, most of us have dealt with women (or mothers) who did this for us or taught us how to do it, especially dealing with The Blacklists of Hollywood. Do you think being “cancelled for being a Karen” is bad now? Well, pick up this book and learn how the 1950s destroyed lives forever courtesy of McCarthy and the HUAC - House Un-American Activities Committee. (For more on that, watch the excellent movie “The Majestic”!)

A great blend of fiction and history – it will be enjoyed by mothers and daughters alike. And if you love historical novels with impeccable research, this book will truly float your boat!
#shortbutsweetreviews

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read THE TROUBLE WITH YOU by Ellen Feldman.

Please know that this is a case of me not you. Or in this case, me not the book. Haha!

The premise of this novel really drew me in. I love historical fiction and the fact that this book takes place after World War 2 and deals with McCarthyism really appealed to me. I think Feldman is an excellent writer who did a ton of research and it shows. This didn't feel like a book that was written "about" the time period, but was inserted with modern views; it felt like a true historical piece. However, I just did not connect to the main character of Fanny (I felt she was wishy washy in her character) and thus I cannot give the book more than 3 stars.

What a wonderful book and so relevant to the issues women are facing today. It’s the story of a young woman who looses her husband suddenly after he returned home safely from WWll. She is left with a small child to raise and forced to find work in a time when women working was frowned upon. With the support of her remarkable Aunt she finds success as a writer only to face the challenges of McCarthyism and blacklisting. We follow her story as she becomes a truly independent women and how she finds a way to deal with her personal life, career, and the political climate of the 1950s.

I loved this novel and recommend it highly.

Thank you NetGalley, publisher and author for allowing me to review this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was very different from what I normally read (smut) and I welcomed the change. I loved her writing style, and the slight the suspense. I think this would be a great book for a book club!

Taking place after World War II, "The Trouble with You" covers twenty years of fictional Fanny Fabricant’s life raising her daughter Chloe. A widow, Fanny has two suitors, Ezra Rapaport and Charlie Berlin. One is a doctor, the other is a script writer during the McCarthy era.

Fanny, her cousin Mimi, her friend Ava and her Aunt Rose all have a hand in raising Chloe while Fanny figures out if she wants to re-marry and give up working as a secretary in the writing department of radio shows.

The author of this story, Ellen Feldman, puts this book squarely during the polio epidemic of the fifties and early sixties in New York City. In so doing, one is reminded of what everyone went through during the recent Covid pandemic. It is comforting to read fiction about how people thrive during epidemics and political upheavals.

Reminiscent of the work by the late Grace Paley, this book would appeal to people who enjoy reading about women living in an earlier American era during different social mores.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

While I enjoyed the premise of this book, the story moved too slow for me and lacked a true crescendo. The topic was very interesting to me and something I hadn't read about before despite being a huge fan of historical fiction, but I would have preferred to have more meat to the "red scare" aspects. Fanny was also somehow likeable while also irritating in her lack of self awareness. I tried to remind myself what she was doing was monumental for women of her time, but she just kept coming off as meak and indecisive despite having a fairly solid support system in Rose. Rose and Charlie were the highlight of the book for me. I enjoyed the ending, but it felt like it took sooooo long for Fanny to figure out how to live her life for herself that it wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped.

The Trouble With You

Fanny was widowed just after the end of WWII. Her doctor husband has a stroke and dies shortly after his military service is concluded. She and her daughter moved into a small apartment, and she and her Ivy League education, a degree in English, went to a job typing scripts at a radio station. She goes from typing scripts to writing scripts, to co-writing scripts with a blacklisted writer and taking full credit so he could have some income.

Fanny has important choices to make: which of two men she loves, whether or not to get married again, and whether or not to continue co-writing the scripts with the blacklisted writer.

This is a good read with an interesting point of view.

Another good read by Ellen Feldman. I’ve enjoyed all of her books. I like her writing, and specifically in this book I enjoyed the literary references and the touch of suspense. It is a solid time piece told at just the right pace. My one issue is it is a bit too predictable but that doesn’t diminish my strong recommendation as an enjoyable read.

Thank you you to NetGalley for providing this early release in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I enjoyed this story of Fanny Fabricant, a woman not afraid to live life her way during a time when woman weren't allowed to have bank accounts without a man's permission.

It seemed a bit strange to read things I remember from my past as a historical novel. Although McCarthyism and its blacklisting of writers, actors and movie people was something I recall living through it did not have the same impact on my life that it does on the characters in The Trouble with You.

Fanny Fabricant is happily married to Max, a newly minted doctor. She is the mother of five-year-old Chloe. Max returns safely after the war but dies unexpectedly from a brain aneurism. Fanny is unprepared to earn a living to support herself and her child. With help from her left-leaning seamstress Aunt Rose, she gets a job as secretary to a soap opera writer. What is so interesting is the hide-bound nature of feminine and masculine roles in this era. Women may work until they are married, then must be housewives and mothers. Although McCarthyism and its blacklisting of writers, actors and movie people was something I remember, it did not have the same impact on my life that it does on the characters in The Trouble with You. (My mother worked outside the home and it was not considered unusual.)

There are two men in Fanny’s life: Dr. Ezra and writer Charlie. The Doc has “traditional” values while the writer is more open minded. Who will Fanny choose? Lives are upended in the Congressional hunt for “Commies” and drastic methods must be undertaken for economic survival after blacklisting by the HUAC cause loss of careers.

This is a very well written book, as you would expect of Ellen Feldman. It’s an almost Five Star review except for the peripheral character, who are wooden and two dimensional. Not so Fanny Fabricant. She is real and relatable.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy.

I appreciate the ARC of The Trouble with You. Although I think the title is unfortunate. It's the story of a war widow/single mom who is stuck in the age when a woman's place is in her home (even though she went to Barnard for her education)...and being an independent women striking out on her own. Like--I have a job.
She works for a woman soap writer as a secretary and soon gets caught up in the world of blacklisted artists/writers and a potential romance with a Doctor. He's old-fashioned and her world is exciting.

It's a very fast read but it's as if Fanny is two different women. Which I didn't care for.

I love WW2 fiction, but haven’t read too many books focused on the post-war period. I enjoyed reading Fanny’s transition from a traditional stay at home mom to finding her voice and purpose in her personal and work life. It captured the changing times in an engaging way — kept me coming back for more!

With "The Trouble With You," Ellen Feldman returns to the Cold War terrain of what to me is her best novel, "The Unwitting." And just as in that earlier novel, in which much of the trouble for the female protagonist arises from her husband, Charlie, an editor for a literary magazine, here too much of the trouble for the chief female character, a typist for an agency producing scripts for daytime serials who has aspirations to write scripts herself, arises from a scriptwriter named Charlie who for all his skill at what he does comes to be blacklisted. A solution, though, that he comes up with is for her to “front” for him, submitting scripts under her name that were actually written by him, something which, for all her reservations at first, she finally goes along with despite the obvious risks for her.
All to the good for me, with how as I say was taken enough with the similarly-themed “The Unwitting” to have read it three times, but something about this one, perhaps the less-immediate third-person point-of-view or perhaps the harder edge of the earlier novel, made it less compelling for me than the earlier one. Still, this one was interesting enough and, as with the earlier novel, especially relevant for me, child of the ‘50s as I am, particularly with its images of rows and rows of children in iron lungs struck down by polio before the arrival of the Salk vaccine, a much-celebrated-victory-over-disease at the time which informs much of my current intense antipathy toward anti-vaxxers. So by all means check out Feldman’s latest if you have any interest in that period, particularly with the writing trade, but if you want to get a real feel for the insidious ways in which the Red Scare affected the publishing industry (Ian McEwan’s “Sweet Tooth” also addressed this) check out “The Unwitting,” which reading "The Trouble With You" made me want to read for still a fourth time. It's that good.

Set in NYC after WWII, this talented author has written a page turner. If I could give this story five stars, I would. Likable characters and unforgettable details keep this story moving. I really liked this book. Fanny starts over with a new life. It is not easy, but she moves on. This is great historical fiction. I could not stop reading until the end. The period after WWII is a common subject, especially set in England. This story set in America is unique in that we join Fanny on her journey during a difficult time in our own nation. This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review. Thanks to the publisher and gifted author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the opportunity to read The Trouble with You by Ellen Feldman. One of the best books I've read this year. A deft look at women during the 1950’s. Young women of today, without stories like this, may have no idea how much things have changed. We still have a long way to go, but reading this rejuvenates hope.

McCarthyism was an ugly time in our history. We should have learned a lot, but I'm afraid we didn't and fear the ignorance and hatefulness of that period is on the rise once again.

I adored the Trouble with You. Fanny was a woman ahead of her time and her story was inspiring. Chloe, Charlie, and all the characters were believable and were so well written. I am a fan of Ellen Feldman's books and this one is my favorite so far. A great read!

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book This is my honest opinion.

I have read previous novels by the author, Paris Never Leaves you and the Living and the Lost. Since I liked both of those novels, I was looking forward to her newest. The story takes place just after WWII in NY City. Men are returning from the war to join their families and pick up their lives. Fanny’s Husband returns, but suddenly dies soon after. Fanny is left as a single mother to raise her daughter Chloe. She first gets a job at a department store cosmetics counter, then as an assistant at a radio station that airs soap operas, just don’t call it that. Her support system is her aunt Rose and her prim cousin Mimi. Fanny faces different people at the radio station at the time when everyone is suspected of communism, including a black listed writer.
I couldn’t really get into this novel, found it slow moving, did not hold my interest. I can only rate it 3 stars.

I really enjoyed The Trouble with You by Ellen Feldman. Taking place in post WWII NYC, Fanny is thrilled that her husband has returned safely from the war, until he dies suddenly of an aneurysm and she's left alone to raise their daughter. Realizing she'll need to work she finds a rather unsatisfactory position at a cosmetic counter ina department store which she is fired from, then lands a job as an assistant to a woman who produces radio soap operas. As her career progresses, she has to decide what is right and wrong, not only for herself, but for those she knows who are caught up in McCarthyism and blacklisted. Will supporting them get her blacklisted too? And intriguing look at the world at the time.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.