The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse
Pub Date: 4-22-25

Thank you @netgalley, @harpermusebooks, and @mariebostwick for this eARC.

Over several months in 1963 four women build strong bonds when they form a book club and begin to share their lives with each other.  The first book they select to read is The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. 

Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv - forevermore to be known as The Bettys - live in a new suburban development in Northern Virginia.  Each is married. Not all have children.  Each wants more in their relationships and their lives.

I was swept up in the lives of these four women.  A story set in a time that makes me thankful I was born in 1970 - needing your husband to sign to allow you to open a bank account, needing your husband to go to your doctor appointment to approve your birth control prescription.  Only the tip of the iceberg, I know!

“I just joined a book club,” Bitsy offered. “Maybe I’ll find friends there. We’re reading The Feminine Mystique. It’s interesting."

"And controversial.” Mrs. Graham nodded appreciatively. “I like these women already.”

#thebookclubfortroublesomewomen #mariebostwick #harpercollinsfocus #netgalley

Like so many stories set during the 1950s and 60s this one was frustrating due to being so well written — I really felt like I was a part of this group of housewives, so I couldn’t help but feel frustrated and angry with the way they were treated by their husbands and the world. It was engrossing to see the women step into a sense of self and independence in different ways, and how books and writing helped to bring them there. There was four women at the center of the story but each felt unique, with their own struggles and joys of womanhood, making it easy to keep them distinguished.