I loved the heroine of this novel: Maddie Sykes is smart, brave and talented. The use of the tobacco plantations to tell the story of a young woman's life is really clever. The descriptions of the society women and the types of activities in which they engaged, as well as the growing understanding and traction of women's rights are also part of this story. At the heart of it all, is the role of tobacco - both as the main source of income and jobs, and also as a source of entertainment and habit in most lives. The evils of tobacco aren't known in 1946 so it's interesting to read about that world with our knowledge today. I thought the setting was beautifully portrayed, the characters were fully developed and I really enjoyed this!

This was a great debut! It’s a coming of age story about a young female seamstress who goes to work in the middle of tobacco country and uncovers dangerous truths about the industry.

Maddie Sykes gets sent to live with her aunt while her widower mother goes off to find a new husband- and is surprisingly ok with it. Her aunt is a well known seamstress in the area and she’s been learning the craft of sewing and dressmaking from her. It’s about to be party season and the women in the area need new dresses, so she gets pulled into helping make dresses for the glamorous tobacco wives. She gets pulled into the behind the scenes and quickly finds out that not everything is as amazing as it appears on the surface. There are secrets and drama within the families but more concerning are the health problems. Women in the area keep losing their pregnancies, and when the babies are born they tend to have breathing issues and are very underweight. She gets close with the wife of the owner of the biggest tobacco company in the area, and through their relationship she uncovers something pretty damning about the business. She’s not sure what to do with this information and doesnt know who to trust- and is pretty sure that no one is going to believe her anyway, since she’s just a young girl from a lower class background, and the information she has can destroy the lives of nearly everyone in the town.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the idea of a young woman being the one to make connections that could lead to the end of Big Tobacco. The writing is solid and the characters are well formed- I also LOVE that the author included two LGBT characters in the mix, which was an unexpected but welcome addition. It also taught me a bit about the history of women’s activism during the post-war period. Maddie held her own as a character- she reads like a girl her age but also was of the time. There’s also a little side love story included, and I REALLY loved the epilogue.

🚬 BOOK / REVIEW 🚬

While I have never been a smoker or had interest in tobacco, #thetobaccowives by @adelejam was a lovely read! While this one was fictional, Myers drew a lot of inspiration from family and friends who grew up in the 1940's. I really loved Maddie's character and the incredible relationship she had with both her aunt Etta and Mitzy, known as one of the premier tobacco wives in the story. This one has a touch of romance as well, which made me love this story even more. As a marketing professional, I also found it fascinating how many lies and mistruths were represented during this era of "public relations" and if we had more Maddie's in this world, a lot of lives could have been saved or drastically improved by sharing the truth. Thank you @kccpr for my copy! This one publishes by @williammorrowbooks in March! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks, @netgalley for the review copy. 5 stars from me. The Tobacco Wives is a historical novel set in a debut set in 1946 North Carolina. Following the death of her father 15-year-old, Maddie Sykes, her fun-loving mother abandons her that her mother can find a new husband!

Maddie now lives with her favourite aunt who shares her love of dressmaking. Maddie is just coming to terms with living a new life in a new town when her aunt become unwell. Maddie must step in and make dresses for the well-to-do women of, Bright Leaf. These women are known locally as The Tabacco Wives.

But she soon learns that Bright Leaf isn’t quite the glamourous, carefree paradise she first thought. Maddie uncovers secrets that shed light on women’s activism and the lies told by the tobacco industry to cover the dangers of smoking. The Tobacco Wives is a dramatic, emotional about a teenage girl finding the courage to seek the truth.

Due for publication by Haper Collins, March 2022

Well written and interesting, the Tobacco wives did a great job at describing both the historical events of the early boom in Tobacco industry and advertising, and the ethical struggle of big business when faced with detrimental truths.

I really liked that it wasn’t a super clean, happily ever after story, but rather dealt with the real war of money/power when truth is brought to light. I thought it was pretty realistic how Mitzy and everyone handled the facts and not unlikely if it were actually a true event. This has so many applications to big money-making businesses more than just Tobacco, and is so accurate, that advertising is trying to benefit the business/executives and not those they market to. We need to do our own research and not just believe what we are fed.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When 15 year old Maddie is left with her great aunt in 1940's North Carolina she learns about life in a tobacco growing town. She originally is there to help her aunt as a seamstress, but learns about health issues associated with tobacco and the cover up by tobacco executives and fights to challenge them.

Such an interesting book. Moved sort of slowly at the beginning but really picked up later. I learned a lot about families and towns that are built around tobacco growing and processing.

I love delving into a historical fiction novel that's about a topic that's rarely touched upon, especially when the story is particularly well done. Myers does a great job of bringing to life the story of Madeline (Maddie) Sykes, a young woman of fifteen dropped off on her Aunt Etta's doorstep by her mother after her father is killed in World War II. Etta has inspired a love of sewing and fashion in Maddie, and brings Maddie along to help her design, sew and fit dresses for the tobacco wives of Bright Leaf, North Carolina at the height of gala season. Mitzy Winston, the wife of the local tobacco company president, quickly takes a shine to Maddie, and invites her to stay with her and her husband when Etta contracts measles. While Maddie has a lot of hard work ahead of her making dresses, everything seems like a dream - initially. But she quickly discovers that many of the women have very little power, and that the powerful men are covering the dangers of tobacco. With the support of her new friend David, Etta, Etta's employee Anthony and Etta's friend Francis, Maddie strives to do the right thing even though the odds are stacked against her. Myers picks a very interesting topic to focus this story on, the ignorance to the dangers of tobacco and smoking, and does a marvelous job. With the information we have available today, it is hard for the reader to process the naivete of the characters. The author helps keep the story balanced though, by creating a more romantic and idealistic secondary storyline about Maddie's desire and skill as a seamstress. Finally, Myers does a great job of growing Maddie as a character throughout the story. She starts as an innocent young girl rousted out of bed in the middle of the night by her mother who is thrilled at Mitzy's attentions, and becomes an ambitious young woman willing to dig deeper and stand by her convictions. Read this if you like historical fiction and are looking for something just a little bit different!

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to the Book Club Girls and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed The Tobacco Wives. It was a great debut historical fiction novel that did not center on WWII, as so much historical fiction does lately. In this novel, The Bright Leaf Tobacco Company of Bright Leaf, North Carolina is undergoing changes in the immediate post war period, just as Maddie Sykes arrives for the summer. Maddie expects a quiet summer of helping her aunt with her dressmaking business but instead finds herself in the middle of all the social forces at play in the town. It's a time of great economic prosperity as the GIs come home, expecting their jobs at the cigarette factories will be returned to them, yet the women who took over those jobs during the war want to hold on to them. Cigarette sales are through the roof, just as people are learning about the dangers of them. Maddie finds herself trying to navigate an adult world on her own and trying to figure out where she will stand.

This book wasn't necessarily marketed as YA, but I think it would actually be a really great book for younger readers because I think Maddie has such a strong teenage perspective on issues. I found her frustrating at times, expecting things to go a certain way or acting a little immaturely, though I think that is true to her age (15). The title is a little misleading because we don't see much of the interior lives of the Tobacco Wives, but rather we see them through Maddie's perspective, as a young girl who one part admires them and is one part disappointed by them.

I look forward to reading more of Adele Myers' work!

Tobacco Wives is a fascinating look at the power behind Big Tobacco after World War II that has frightening similarities to the role Big Pharma plays today. It’s about the opulence of a bygone era, the influence of the social elite, the dominion of the region’s largest employer, and the gutsy young woman who stands up to them both. The book didn’t have the depth I was hoping for, and the first half was sluggish, but I learned a great deal about the tobacco industry’s fall from grace and the postwar culture of the American South. 4 stars.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Readalike Authors: Fiona Davis and Lisa Wingate

This is a story of 15 year old Maddie who helps her Aunt Etta make dresses for the women in Bright Leaf, North Carolina in the 1940’s just after the war. Most of the book is about the dressmaking for the big gala event happening in town. Her aunt ends up in the hospital and Maddie is left to finish the dresses with a little help from her friend Anthony.
I enjoyed the historical fiction part about the women’s empowerment movement in the tobacco factory. The women were trying to start a union and wanted to keep their jobs after the men returned home from the war.
It was an easy read that brought up the dangers of smoking, fast forward 50 years to congressional hearings and surgeon general warnings.
Thank you to #Bookclubgirl and NetGalley for my early ebook read.

A quick easy read, Tobacco Wives draws you in to the town of Bright Leaf where tobacco is king and the town is run by the “Tobacco Wives” which is their version of big society. While the plot brings to light many issues - health issues stemming from tobacco, women working in factories and poor working conditions, the book reads more like a YA novel instead of one for adults. For me, this is perfect because I love YA. I enjoyed the book and witnessing the main character, Maddie, learn to find her voice and stand up for what she believes is right.

I appreciated this novel for its evocative depiction of a vanished world in North Carolina in the forties, where Tobacco was king. While I felt that the writing could have been better in the first half of the novel, I could see events and people as clearly as if the book were already a film. Since the main character, Maddie, was a fashion designer, I would have enjoyed more content about fashion and the actual process of putting together the dresses with the other fashion designer, Anthony. One of the threats that is implied in the first half of the book turns out to be a dead end.

Once Maddie finds out the dark secrets that the tobacco executive executives are hiding and attends a meeting of labor activists in the tobacco factory who want to strike, the villains are unveiled, and the novel moves much more quickly and is much more absorbing. I really wanted Maddie to prevail and for justice to be done. The tobacco wives may be in the title, but they don't work as the main focus especially with the whole drama seen through Maddie's eyes. I know novels with "wife" or "wives" have been a thing in American publishing for a decade, but had this one been called "The Seamstress of Bright Leaf" or something and the focus kept squarely on Maddie (and her primary relationship a working one, with Anthony) it would have improved the novel quite a bit in my opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It started out slow, but it picked up. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the heroine has more run-ins with the villain and almost gets caught a few more times. The build up is all in the last part of the book. I sympathized with the character and rooted for her the whole time, so in many ways it was a successful story.

What a fantastic historical fiction about a lost time in WWII history. I loved this book, rich in detail and research. Most of my extended family is from the south and this book was like listening to distant relatives and the reminder that in a time not so long ago, Tobbaco was king in the world. The characters were well developed and memorable, such a pleasant read.

I will keep this in mind when I'm sharing exciting 2022 releases with my audience. Thank you so much for the gifted copy.

Historical fiction laced with corporate greed and corruption. What a great pairing for a debut novel set in small North Carolina tobacco town during post WWII. As typical for the time period, the small town is enjoying the economic gains of the tobacco boom that is responsible for the livelihood of its residents. Maddie, the 15-year-old protagonist, is sent to live with her aunt who is professional seamstress for the 'tobacco wives' of the town. Maddie eventually uncovers a dark side to the town's cash crop and is also introduced to the mistreatment of the women who have been keeping the factories afloat while the town's men have been serving in the war.

I enjoyed the strong female leads and first-hand descriptions of a small, tobacco road town. I felt the ending was abrupt and could have been more developed.

Thank you NetGalley, Adele Myers, and William Morrow/Custom House for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

“Tobacco Wives” is a compelling coming-of-age tale set in the ‘40s. Maddie is a strong protagonist. The supporting characters are fully fleshed out, not 2 dimensional or superficial as can often be the case with secondary characters. I truly loved this novel.

Loved this well researched historical fiction book set in the south with a focus on the power of woman (often behind the scenes and not with due credit due to the time period). Characters are relatable, and while reading I was unable to predict a few of the plot turns which helped to make the book enjoyable.

I enjoyed this look into late 1940's tobacco road- North Carolina. The mostly female cast of characters are well developed. Reading the author's note at the end of the novel helps round out the book and provide context. As the wives grapple with the secret toward the end of the novel it made me wonder about the history of big tobacco and women as factory workers during WW2.

Most of us are not old enough to remember a time when tobacco was king, cigarettes were smoked by all ages, and doctors recommended that women (even pregnant women) smoke to calm their nerves!

Now imagine you are 15, finding your way in the world after losing your father and getting dumped by your mother, and discovering that powerful men are hiding the truth about the dangers of tobacco use.

Set in the south in 1946, this is the story of Maddie, who is struggling to see what the future might hold when options outside of marriage are few. You won’t want to miss it!

Thank you to author Adele Myers, NetGalley and William Morrow for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.