I am very lucky that I get given loads of books to read for free – but my sister messaged to say she thought I’d enjoy this book – so without even reading the blurb I ordered it! But if you need to read the blurb first – here it is:

“By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman’s dream. She has a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia–one of Northern Virginia’s most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman’s Place–a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn’t that feel like enough?
Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia’s newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte’s orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women–Bitsy and Viv–to the inaugural meeting. As the women share secrets, cocktails, and their honest reactions to the controversial bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they begin to discover that the American dream they’d been sold isn’t all roses and sunshine–and that their secret longing for more is something they share. Nicknaming themselves the Bettys, after Betty Friedan, these four friends have no idea their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments–and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a humorous, thought provoking, and nostalgic romp through one pivotal and tumultuous American year–as well as an ode to self-discovery, persistence, and the power of sisterhood.“

Straight away I got ‘Lessons In Chemistry‘ vibes from this book – which I also thoroughly enjoyed – but it kind of set the scene for the historical setting in my brain. Margaret and her neighbours are all very different women in very different times – but you will definitely see similarities between your own friends and the book club ladies. They really were incredibly different times for women!

Some historical facts are woven through the story (the assassination of JFK being one of them, which I suspect for the generation older than me is a life event you remember where you were when you heard the news – for me similar events are 9/11 and when Princess Diana died) but a lot of the book is the day to day lives of the women in Concordia.

My sister was correct – I did really enjoy it – and I can see it would make a good ‘bookclub’ book – as there is a lot to discuss and think about.