This is a fantastic novel that steps outside of the overly focused on time frame of WWII and follows the aftermath: This novel focuses on Fannie and her daughters following the loss of her husband. This novel was emotional, well written and definitely something I would recommend historical fiction fans to pick up! I read this as an ARC provided directly from the publisher and NetGalley!

The Trouble with You is perfect for someone who wants to branch out a little from all of the WW2 novels out there and wants to see what life was like in the immediate aftermath of the war. It's a good palate cleanser between denser novels as well as the pace plods along at a steady pace. Fanny as a character is relatable as a main character but I found I was drawn more towards Charlie and Rose. If there was a spin-off book about either one of their pasts I would devour it!

There are a lot of books out there that focused on the post World War II time period. Some are good and some are great. This is one of the great ones!

As a war widow, Fanny fabricant needs to find a way to care for herself and her daughter and the aftermath of losing her husband. It’s a man’s world, but Fanny is determined to do all she can to make the best of life for her and her daughter. This is a lovely story of a woman being stronger that all of the cards that are stacked against her. It’s a wonderful read.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Fanny is thrilled when her husband returns safely from WWII. They can now begin a "normal" family life with their 6 year old daughter. Then tragedy strikes -- Fanny's husband suddenly dies and she is forced to find a job. At this time, women are expected to be stay-at-home moms, but Fanny cannot afford to do that.

Working as the secretary to a radio serial (never say "soap opera"), she discovers that she likes to work. She quickly becomes an editor. Fanny is befriended by another writer who is being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee due to his past associations. This is the height of McCarthyism and he needs a "front" to submit his stories. Fanny becomes his front and eventually becomes a writer, as well.

This novel gives the reader a good view of the scare tactics the Government used to root out Communists, particularly in the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, these methods ruined the lives and careers of many hard-working, creative people.

It was refreshing to read a historical fiction novel that wasn't set/about World War II. I haven't read many books that take place in a post war New York, and I know that I have read none about the Red scare and the Blacklist. An interesting look at the beginning of television and the impact that the Blacklist had on actors, and writers in the industry at that time.

I started to read the book and I was just not able to get into the story line. I didn’t love any of the characters, I was just expecting something different. I thought the first part was interesting and when the book jumped to a different timeline it lost me. I

This novel spans the life of Fanny Fabricant, a young mother whose husband goes off to fight in WWII, and when he returns, she believes her life will go on exactly as planned. However, one night changes everything for Fanny and she learns to adapt to a new reality in a new world that is very different than her “MRS” degree from her seven sister college prepared her for. Getting a job in radio soaps and living through the McCarthy era, Fanny realizes that she has a choice in life, she can play it safe or she can do what she believes is right.


I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable read and listen, I really liked Fanny and her evolution as a person. The story flowed and read quickly, so much so that I put the other book I was reading down to finish this one. I thought the author’s choice of radio writers and actresses during the McCarthy era made an interesting read for me and I highly recommend this one. Another author discovered and another backlist to add to my ever-growing TBR!!


4.25 stars

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC to review

Fanny Fabricant is a young widow living in New York City in the 1940s. She must cope with the loss of her husband, Max, a doctor who survived WWII only to die unexpectedly, leaving her with a small daughter to raise. With a liberal arts degree from Barnard, Fanny has no real job skills, but she is unwilling to depend on the charity of friends or family. When her aunt Rose, a left-leaning seamstress who put her brothers through college and built up her own business, finds her a job as secretary to the head scriptwriter of a radio station that airs "daytime serials" (AKA "soaps") Fanny is grateful. She types scripts, orders tickets to Broadway shows and restaurant reservations for VIPs, deals with sponsors, and brings her boss coffee or tea. The job is engaging and keeps her from brooding over the loss of her former life. It also allows her to support her daughter, Chloe. Fanny finds friendship among the actors and other scriptwriters. She even considers the idea of trying to write her own scripts.
I became thoroughly involved in Fanny's life and fascinated by the business of radio drama, especially after some of her friends fell victim to the anti-communist hysteria of McCarthyism. She becomes involved with two very different men. (One of the best things about this book is that both of them are good people with considerable charm who really love Fanny. Unlike too many other love stories, this one did not make it immediately obvious which one she would choose.) I am old enough to remember when it was expected that a woman would give up her career to raise her children so I enjoyed seeing Fanny struggle with those expectations.
I would recommend this book to fans of Lessons in Chemistry.
The Trouble With You has an engaging plot and characters. I look forward to reading more by Ellen Feldman.
Thanks to NetGalley who provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is set mostly in the 1950s, in New York City. Fanny is a young widow, bringing up a child. She works as a secretary for a company that creates scripts for radio series.

I love the mother-daughter relationship, as well as the relationship Fanny has with an older, very forward-thinking aunt. All 3 characters were realistic. Both of the women are strong, in different ways. Sometimes Fanny is a little too principled for her own good.

I learned some interesting facts about the writing of scripts for radio soap operas. And how sound effects were made. It’s always good to come away from a book with new knowledge.

As a baby boomer myself, I found the values of the era brought back memories. Times have changed.

The McCarthy era plays a part in the storyline. McCarthy was a senator who headed a witch hunt in the US for Communists. Many people in the entertainment industry were affected.

As always, I love the mention of real places in any story. This one included The New York Society Library and Longchamps, a very trendy restaurant. Of course, I had to Google both.

In conclusion, it was a good story, very reminiscent of the times. It was interesting and enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

I read an advanced reader’s copy of the ebook and also listened to the audiobook. I found the historical pieces in this book interesting, but the pace of the book from the onset was rather slow. Additionally, I had trouble connecting with the main character. Overall, this was just an “okay” read for me.

I'm a bit torn, because the line level writing in this book was really good and I learned a lot from the historical context of this story. Even scene by scene, it wasn't bad, it just overall really failed to hook me, up until the end. Partly it seemed to not quite know what it wanted to say—was it a story about grief, feminism, anti-communist movements, all, none? Not that a story can't be about all those things, but they didn't quite feed into each other in a cohesive way. It made it so I could never quite tell where the story was going, which made it feel slow and hard to get through. Even the main romantic lead was someone who I was never quite sure if I was supposed to like him or not for way too long. The main character also did a lot of waffling and denial until almost the very end, and I got tired of it. Basically, the whole thing just didn't quite come together for me, but it had its good parts.

I have never read a book by Ms. Feldman before, but after finishing this book, I am going to make a point of reading more of her work.

"The Trouble With You" pulled me in right from the start and kept me enthralled. I never knew that much about the McCarthy Era, and this book taught me quite a bit. Not all I needed to know, but just enough. I never liked politics much in my reading, but this book just touched on it enough to bring it to light and to make it personal to the characters.

As you can see by the book description, it is about a young widow with a child. This woman, Fanny Fabricant, has been taught from the cradle right up through college that her career is going to be as a wife and mother. But destiny has other plans for her, and she takes a job as a secretary at a radio soap opera. Her life goes on, but as I said, fate throws a monkey wrench into her life. And this is where the book gets really interesting. Two men, pulling the wool over the HUAC's eyes, a wonderful career, and then a daughter who takes after her mother and Aunt.

Wonderful writing, identifiable characters, and a great story.


*ARC Supplied by the publisher Macmillan/St. Martin's Griffin, the author, and NetGalley. My thanks to all for this opportunity.

Set in New York City post World War II, the author vividly paints the picture of the social mores of the times. Fanny Fabricant is happily married to Max, who returned from the war to die shortly after of an aneurysm. Left to raise and support her daughter, Chloe, Fanny starts to work at a radio station editing scripts for soaps, where she meets Charlie Berlin. As Fanny moves from secretary to writer, she is impacted indirectly by the House Unamerican Affairs Committee and the McCarthy era blacklisting. Faced with marrying Ezra and becoming a traditional housewife, vs, involvement with co-writer Charlie Berlin, Fanny faces difficult choices. Well written and recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The injustice of the McCarthy trials of the 1950s is a major part of this story along with the narrow views of working women. At that time in America being suspect to having anything to even remotely connected with communism posed an enormous threat to everyone. It led to blacklisting of hundreds of people. Women were raised to only be housewives, not to contribute to the work force nor the family.
I honestly had to look up the McCarthy trials and was shocked by the injustices running rampant in the country.
The blend of the two topics creates a telling novel of the times and of the theoretical hardships in the novel. An excellent novel.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Trouble with you by Ellen Feldman is a delightful book. I am a huge historical fiction reader. The book was very entertaining. Ms. Feldman is an excellent writer who draws the reader into her story.

The story starts in the 1940’s New York City and follows the characters for approximately the next decade and a half. I was thrilled with the setting of this book. New York City after the War was a hub. Radio was the king of entertainment. I appreciated the descriptions of the apartments, the offices, and the streets. I also appreciated the historical information regarding the ‘red scare’ where many writers, actors, and actresses were blacklisted as having communist ties. The other historical issue explored was women’s rights. Should they stay home with the kids? Should they have a job? Should they know how to balance a checkbook?

The main character Fanny Fabricante is an unforgettable character. Fanny came alive for me. You worry when she worries, you sob when she sobs, you laugh when she laughs. You find yourself cheering Fanny on. You feel like Fanny could be your friend. To me this is a mark of a gifted writer. It was so interesting to follow the evolution and growth of Fanny. The secondary characters are likeable and believable. I especially liked Fanny’s Aunt.

I so enjoyed this story. There were many things I could relate to. I was a child of a woman who was outstanding in her field. She did something she loved. It is extraordinary as a child of a woman in the 1950’s see their mother shine. There were times when I couldn’t do this or that after school because my mom was working. I could relate to Fanny as well as her daughter.

This is my first book by Ellen Feldman but I assure you it will not be my last. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next. I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin Griffin and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book and the character of Fanny and the post WW II setting.. I will do a review on my blog closer to the publication date.

Three generations of independent woman told from their perspective of life and the world around them including expectations and experiences. Wasn’t exactly my taste, but I liked it enough to finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Publishing for the ARC of "The Trouble With You" in exchange for an honest review.
It took no time at all for this book to engross me fully and keep me flying though the pages until its end. While I've read any number of recent books that take a deservedly angry gaze at women diminished, patronized and marginalized by a patriarchal society, this one really hit home with its on-target historical context.
And the book accomplishes all this by placing its romantic triangle in the midst of post World War 2 America. It's an era when you can detect the beginnings, those inevitable tremors of societal change that will erupt into earthshaking changes for the decades to come.
Dutiful wife and young mother Florence 'Fanny' Fabricant suffers a cruel twist of fate when her doctor husband, who survived his war service, dies suddenly at home, leaving her a single mother to her toddler Chloe. Forced into a provider role she's unprepared for, Fanny takes a job re-typing soap opera scripts for a New York radio network.
Her work puts her in constant contact with the network's most prolific and talented writer, the brash, witty, devil-may-care rebel Charlie. But beneath his wisecracking cynicism, he silently rages at the vile 'red-baiting' of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the inquisitions of the House on Un-American Activities Committee, destroying lives and careers of writers and actors.
It doesn't take long for Fanny to find herself overwhelmed by the true events of the post war era. Charlie and her actress friend Ava are blacklisted by so called patriotic investigators, making them unemployable.. In addition to Charlie's 'frenemy flirting (which Fanny matches with her own inherent wit), Chloe's alarming, but temporary health scare amid the rampant, Polio epidemic touches off Fanny's budding romance with Ezra, Chloe's pediatrician.
The dramatic stakes (and Fanny's own conflicting emotions over the two men in her life) take an even more urgent turn when she agrees to use her name as a 'front' on Charlie's scripts so he can sell them. By that time, she's gradually discovered she's as talented a scriptwriter as Charlie. But Fanny's emerging abilities, self-worth and newly found independence do not sit well with Ezra, whose traditional view of marriage gender roles will consign her back to the job of full-time housewife. It's lucky Fanny relies on the bluntly direct, common sense mentoring and advice of her beloved Aunt Rose, a seamstress with a rebellious history of her own
Everything going on around Fanny kept me glued to this book.....the triangle, the surge of history and Fanny's own self revelations, which put her among the vanguard of women determined to pursue lives and careers that at the time, were thought of as only the province of men. There's real snap, crackle and pop in the dialogue exchanges, that would make this story a natural for any film or TV mini-series adaptation. The wit and insight stays rooted in Fanny's journey right up the final, more than satisfying finale.
An absolute 5 star item, and among the fastest, most ambitiously entertaining reads I've enjoyed this year.

The Trouble with You by Ellen Feldman

Fanny Fabricant, wife and mother, married to the man she loves, a man she can argue with, sleep apart from, and come together again with in the morning, just as in love as ever. The man she's going to grow old with, maybe have another baby with, their future full of the unknown but they'll meet it together. And then it's over, Fanny is alone with their almost five year old daughter and her world has fallen down on her head.

During this time in the book, Fanny felt so distant to me. Of course, part of it is that I'm looking in on her life before I've gotten to know "this" Fanny, the Fanny that is/was living a traditional life of a wife and mother. Married to a doctor with the future only getting more financially stable and secure. Later on, Fanny will look at this time with heartache but also knowing just how naive she was to think that life could be so predictable and comfortable. Now she knows she can lose everything instantly. Of course she'd seen it happen to others thanks to the war but when her time of loss came, it was after the war...all should have been safe.

We follow Fanny, deep in grief, tending to herself, her daughter, and their tiny apartment, moving through a haze of grief that seems permanent. But she does have her Aunt Rose who won't let her stay in that haze forever. And she does have her cousin Mimi, who also has had to move on, to at least show her one way that it is done. Eventually Fanny gets a secretarial job for a company that puts on radio programs and through the actors/actresses, script writers, and her boss, she becomes more aware of the blacklisting that ruins careers and lives, especially when a few of her friends are hit hard with the blacklisting stick.

It's during this time that my understanding of Fanny seems to blossom. As Fanny comes to know herself and what she is willing to risk, even if she keeps her risks hidden from others, I grew to like Fanny more and felt like I could intuit her choices even before she knew she was going to have to make choices. Eventually there are two important men in Fanny's life, Ezra, the doctor who wants to marry her and Charlie, one very much blacklisted script writer whose very presence in Fanny's life could get her in very deep trouble. Trouble for Fanny is one thing but Fanny risking her daughter's future is a step Fanny is not willing to take.

I really like the way the story is told. At first I felt so distant from it but once Fanny starts her job and meets others, spreads her wings, and loses some of her naivety, I was hooked on Fanny and her life. Aunt Rose is a wonderful character but so are others, even if they play much smaller parts in the story. I had faith in Fanny and she didn't let me down, nor does she let down her aunt or her daughter. Life can't and shouldn't be lived by the rules of others and I enjoyed watching Fanny take charge of her life and I like that she allows herself time to think things through. Thinking things through, taking the time to be sure, makes Franny seem real to me.

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

It's post WWII in New York and Fanny Fabricant's husband returns from the war, having served as a doctor. She was one of the lucky few. But Max's unexpected death leaves her in a delicate situation, she has to find a job to support herself and her young daughter at a time when women were expected to stay home and raise their families.

She eventually gets the position of secretary typing corrected scripts for a radio series (soap opera). Despite her degree in literature, she feels unqualified to actually write herself. She's seen how writers and publishers in the entertainment industry have been blacklisted by McCarthy through HUAC and how many lives were ruined. She will need to play it safe to survive in this industry she's grown to love.

I enjoyed this story because of how it described the turbulent time period it took place in, what it meant to be a single mother, to survive a polio epidemic and find one's own voice in a complicated society where the rules were constantly changing.