The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick (BOOK CLUB May 2025)
When your neighborhood book club turns into a feminist revolution…
Our May 2025 book club pick is The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick. This very newly released book (April of 2025!) sounds exactly up our alley.
From the Amazon summary:
“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.”
On Goodreads it has 1,269 ratings and 733 ratings with an average of 4.2 stars.
Because this book is SO new, there really isn’t a lot available to share with you all about it! I’ll link to some interviews with the author.
The most exciting part of this book club is that we will be joined by the author herself! After finding out we would be reading this as part of our Secret Stuff book club, Marie Bostwick reached out to see if we’d like her to pop into our discussion!
Like we did with Katherine Morgan Schafler, Marie will join us for the first hour of book club; she and Laura will talk, and then we’ll be able to ask her questions directly. Then she’ll slip off the call, and we’ll continue for another 30 minutes to discuss the book. This will let us interact with the author AND have some space to share our true feelings. :)
We will meet on Tuesday, May 27, at 6pm PT/9pm ET to talk about The Book Club for Troublesome Women. I’m really looking forward to reading this one! See you there!
Cheers,
Colleen (and Laura)
Further watching:
Yay! I’m excited. Also, I have the Feminine Mystique on my shelf but still haven’t read it yet.
I got it on Hoopla 🥰