Imagine you are a young, married woman in the 1950's. Unhappily married. What are your options? You are basically considered to be the property of your husband with no acceptable opinions or rights, much as you were to your father before you married. Chattel. Meet Lois, married for four years and definitely not fitting the mold of wife nor want to become a mother.

Lois realizes that basically her entire life she has been lonely, as a child and as well as a married adult. Living in what she feels is a loveless marriage, The only way for her to have the grounds for divorce is to live in a divorce ranch in Reno, Nevada, for six weeks. Her emotionally distant father agrees to finance her stay at the most respectable divorce ranch, the Golden Yarrow.

Initially, Lois is disinterested in pretty much everything at the Golden Yarrow. When beautiful,
bruised, and bold Greer shows up Lois's life changes, Lois thinks she has found the excitement that has been missing from her life. Greer dares her to do things Lois would never do on her own and they develop a friendship Lois has never had before. While Greer gets others to open up about their lives and live daringly, she shares little about her past. Rowan Beaird weaves an engaging tale of longing, learning, friendship, and personal growth.

This book is a real mood & vibe read - I admired a lot about the writing, but it is quite melancholy. I've read a few non-fiction book about divorce ranches (both originally in South Dakota much earlier, and then in the mid-20th century in Nevada), so I was fairly familiar with the topic and that definitely amplified my enjoyment of this novel.

Lois is an interesting character - she definitely didn't have a happy marriage, but the unhappiness of her marriage is hard to pin down for Lois and for the reader. And her obsession with Greer is one that is coded queer but actually is not ... Lois is just a deeply lonely person who is desperate for connection.

If you're looking for slightly highbrow literary fiction about divorce ranches in the 50s and the women who populated them, you'll quite enjoy this one. Come for the deeply atmospheric prose, stay for the fucked up women (a fave genre of mine). 3.5 stars rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

“The Divorcees” a debut novel by Rowan Beard was a very interesting and engrossing read about the divorce ranches that existed in Nevada during the 1950s. These ranches existed to provide wealthy women quickie divorces after a 6 week residency.
The author brilliantly weaves her story about The Golden Yarrow and the women who reside there, each one with an intriguing story of her own. Everything changes when in the middle of the night a mysterious guest arrives. The story delves into the heartbreaking reality of how difficult it was to be a women in the 1950s especially for those who wanted something more for themselves than being just a wife and mother. This book is masterfully written bringing mystery, self awareness & heart into a piece of history most of us did not know.

Thank you NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and the author for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this delicious historical fiction- I had heard of divorce ranches in Reno, but I didn't really know what they were and how they worked. Personally, I always really love when books using their setting and time period to the max, which this novels absoolutely achieves. I feel like there weren't any huge surprises with this novel, and I mean that it in the highest compliment possible. My expectations and hopes were perfectly calibrated, I got what I came for here. I am also really impressed that this is a debut novel, I felt like the way this was written and Lois' POV were effortless and all the beats flowed into each other well. It's a little fun but not too unserious, a little mischievous but not too dark!

When I saw the synopsis for Rowan Beaird's debut The Divorcees, I knew I had to read it. Having no knowledge of the Reno divorce ranches of the 1950s before reading this book, I found this novel to be entirely ingenious and intriguing. In case you are like me and had no idea that divorce ranches, designed around providing guests with a quickie divorce under Reno's 6-week residency laws, existed, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into our country's colorful history.

The Golden Yarrow caters to the "fallen" women of the upper classes. The wives and daughters belonging to prominent families who just couldn't cut it in their marriages. Often their spouses were unfaithful; perhaps they longed for a child that was never provided; or maybe they just wanted out. Regardless of the reason, the Golden Yarrow takes them in for a price, providing these women with a temporary home while they wait out the residency laws of Reno, which allow them a fuss-free divorce after residing in the city for 6 weeks.

Among those currently biding their time at the Golden Yarrow is Lois Saunders, a young woman looking to escape her loveless marriage. No longer under the thumb of her husband, Lois finds that the patriarchal power over her has transferred back to her father, who makes demands about how she spends her time at the Golden Yarrow and what she does with his money. Lois longs to live freely like the other girls at the ranch but finds life on her own to be just as stifling as it was with her husband by her side.

But everything changes when a mysterious guest shows up at the Golden Yarrow in the dead of night. Greer Lang arrives with a black eye and a story that she keeps hidden from the other girls. Between taking her meals in her bedroom and not participating in the ranch activities with the other girls, Greer creates a whirlwind of excitement at the Golden Yarrow. Is she a part of the American aristocracy? Was she married to a business magnate or movie star? Just who is the enigmatic Greer Lang?

The girls will soon find out when Greer emerges from her room and turns the Golden Yarrow on its head. Greer pushes the soon-to-be divorcees to stand up for themselves and behave in ways contrary to their nature, or at least in contrast to how they've been born and bred. Lois, in particular, is taken under Greer's wing, and as she begins to determine what she wants for her life going forward, thanks to Greer's influence, she finds that her life might just be headed down a totally unexpected path.

The Divorcees is a tour-de-force debut that effectively captures the often claustrophobic aura of what it meant to be a woman in 1950s America with few choices or prospects of her own. This book was so interesting to me; not only because it explored a subject I knew nothing about, but also because it demonstrates how much the world has changed in the last 75 years. While some women coming out of marriage immediately sought another, there were others who maybe wanted something a bit different for themselves, as exemplified through Lois, a young girl yearning to break free from the societal chains bounding her in place.

While much of The Divorcees reads as a historical fiction novel, Beaird masterfully interjects an aura of mystery in her novel by way of the furtive, magnetic Greer, a bold woman standing in her own power. Beaird keeps the riddle of Greer's background alive throughout her book, not revealing all until the end when the pieces of the puzzle cleverly fall into place.

n this circa 1950 historical novel set on a Nevada horse ranch, Lois’s prominent father has paid for her stay at the exclusive and highly rated Golden Yarrow, a boardinghouse in Reno for estranged wives to live in while the required waiting period for a quickie divorce passes. Although they are supposed to prove they are residents and testify their intent to remain in Nevada, few stay once the judge makes his declaration. The Golden Yarrow Ranch is run by two women who mother and advise, and just require a daily check in so their guests can meet the residency requirement. Lois, desiring to remain childless and escape a loveless marriage, is perpetually awkward and feels she has never really fit in anywhere. She at first behaves as she believes her father would want: staying in, being very careful with her money, keeping to herself. When mysterious, glamorous Greer arrives with a bruise blooming on her cheek and gets her meals served on trays, information becomes currency to the girls who wonder if an Astor or movie star is in their midst, and curious Lois wants to be the first to know.

Greer eventually appears, and becomes a mean girl ring leader of sorts, determining with a detached coolness who’s in and who’s out, setting little tasks of petty thievery and vandalism for the house’s girls while out and about on the town in bars and casinos. Lois is eager to please and gain Greer’s approval, and counts herself lucky that Greer wants to spend time with her in between hikes, swimming, riding, and visits to lawyers.

This is a deliciously atmospheric book, meticulously researched, well-written, and perfectly paced–the narrative deliberately proceeds as sluggishly as a six-week wait in the desert, sans air-conditioning, to get divorced to a man you know longer wish to be married to. The respite the pool provides, the flashbacks to drowning, the metaphor of being desperate for the relief of water that is also dangerous and unpredictable, is so beautifully, subtly, and masterfully done. The casinos and bars where misbehavior takes place are literally and figuratively dark, smoky, seedy foils for the sunny desert. The characterizations are strong and memorable, and the period details from fashion and manners to cultural allusions and expressions set the story firmly in place and time, on the cusp of the women’s liberation movement. As in Lessons In Chemistry, the patriarchal overtones and occasional violence will make modern readers cringe, and it’s a great read-a-like for fans of Bonnie Garmus.

I received a free, advance reader’s edition of #TheDivorcees from #NetGalley.

The book is written in third-person present tense POV. The tense itself doesn't work for me. I cannot get over this random stalker narrating every event as it happens. This is a me thing. It seems like it's becoming a trend, so maybe I will become desensitized to it. I stopped reading after the prologue and the first few pages of chapter 1.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC.

When I saw the synopsis for Rowan Beaird's debut The Divorcees, I knew I had to read it. Having no knowledge of the Reno divorce ranches of the 1950s before reading this book, I found this novel to be entirely ingenious and intriguing. In case you are like me and had no idea that divorce ranches, designed around providing guests with a quickie divorce under Reno's 6 week residency laws, existed, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into our country's colorful history.

The Golden Yarrow caters to the "fallen" women of the upper classes. The wives and daughters belonging to prominent families who just couldn't cut it in their marriages. Often their spouses were unfaithful; perhaps they longed for a child that was never provided; or maybe they just wanted out. Regardless of the reason, the Golden Yarrow takes them in for a price, providing these women with a temporary home while they wait out the residency laws of Reno, which allow them a fuss-free divorce after residing in the city for 6 weeks.

Among those currently biding their time at the Golden Yarrow is Lois Saunders, a young woman looking to escape her loveless marriage. No longer under the thumb of her husband, Lois finds that the patriarchal power over her has transferred back to her father, who makes demands about how she spends her time at the Golden Yarrow and what she does with his money. Lois longs to live freely like the other girls at the ranch, but finds life on her own to be just as stifling as it was with her husband by her side.

But everything changes when a mysterious guest shows up at the Golden Yarrow in the dead of night. Greer Lang arrives with a black eye and a story that she keeps hidden from the other girls. Between taking her meals in her bedroom and not participating in the ranch activities with the other girls, Greer creates a whirlwind of excitement at the Golden Yarrow. Is she a part of the American aristocracy? Was she married to a business magnate or movie star? Just who is the enigmatic Greer Lang?

The girls will soon find out when Greer emerges from her room and turns the Golden Yarrow on its head. Greer pushes the soon-to-be divorcees to stand up for themselves and behave in ways contrary to their nature, or at least in contrast to how they've been born and bred. Lois, in particular, is taken under Greer's wing, and as she begins to determine what she wants for her life going forward, thanks to Greer's influence, she finds that her life might just be headed down a totally unexpected path.

The Divorcees is tour-de-force debut that effectively captures the often claustrophobic aura of what it meant to be a woman in 1950s America with few choices or prospects of her own. This book was so interesting to me; not only because it explored a subject I knew nothing about, but also because it demonstrates how much the world has changed in the last 75 years. While some women coming out of a marriage immediately sought another, there were others who maybe wanted something a bit different for themselves, as exemplified through Lois, a young girl yearning to break free from the societal chains bounding her in place.

While much of The Divorcees reads as a historical fiction novel, Beaird masterfully interjects an aura of mystery in her novel by way of the furtive, magnetic Greer, a bold woman standing in her own power. Beaird keeps the riddle of Greer's background alive throughout her book, not revealing all until the end when the pieces of the puzzle cleverly fall into place.

A commanding debut by an up-and-coming author, The Divorcees comes highly recommended for fans of the genre.