This had a very slow start, which made it difficult for me to get into. I wish it felt as though there was a more compelling climax that the plot was heading towards. However, this read is about a revolutionary book and the way that big, radical perspectives can reshape the lives of individual women. And I think that the slower pacing and "trickling" of such ideas—seeping into their approach towards being a wife, homemaker, mother, and more—actually do mirror the way that these notions are absorbed. It would probably be most poignant with readers who either belonged to this generation or were adjacent to it.

I would give this a 3.5 rounded up to 4!

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. I suppose part is due to the fact that I grew up in the sixties and 1963 is a year etched deeply in my memory. Women couldn’t get birth control without their husband’s approval in 1963, nor could they open a bank account in their own name, even though they were simply trying to cashing their own pay checks. How quickly we forget, but now my Granddaughter is roughly the same age that I was in the early 6o ‘s and I see her rights being stripped away.

The story of four neighbors ( Margaret, Betsy, Viv, and Charlotte, begins in March 1963 when they form a book club called The Betty’s after reading Betty Friedan’s classic The Feminine Mystique. Books can change lives and be the catalyst for change, and throughout the book we see how friendship can facilitate important transformation in the lives of these women, as they strive to live their best life. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip back into the past and it’s a good reminder that women still possess the strength to go after what they are due. We have plenty left to fight for.

Highly recommended.

Thank you so much NetGalley for an ARC of this novel. I haven't read a book lately that I enjoyed as much I as did this one. Being a child of the 60's this story brought back memories of my childhood. Each character was interesting and I thought Marie Bostwick developed each very well. In fact, each character could have a book where they were the main character. It's amazing what women have had to go through to gain independence and respect and it's not better now in 2025! I wish my mother was alive so I could ask about opening a checking account and gaining a prescription for the pill without my father's signature or approval! I fondly remember my mother hosting her friends. I wonder if she was part of a Betty's group! I also was lucky to receive an advanced audible copy of the book. I enjoy reading and listening together. The audible was amazing! I will certainly recommend this to my friends and fellow readers as well as my own book club! Thank you again for a delightful, thought provoking book!
Leslie Ponder

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a compelling, unputdownable read that brilliantly captures the struggles and awakenings of women in 1960s Concordia. Through the lives of four women in their 20s and 30s, it explores the tension between societal expectations and personal ambition—between the roles they were told to accept and the dreams they were forced to abandon.

Everything changes when their book club picks The Feminine Mystique. As they turn its pages, their perspectives shift, desires ignite, and the power of sisterhood takes center stage.

Marie’s storytelling is both sharp and heartfelt, weaving humor, friendship, and defiance into a narrative that celebrates the courage to challenge the status quo. This was a five-star read for me—moving, thought-provoking, and utterly unforgettable.

This for me was a 5 star read.

Thanks to @netgalley and @Harpermusebooks for the ARC.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women
Pub Date: Apr 22 2025

#NetGalley #ladysnuffy #books #bookgram #booktok #booknerd #arc #TheBookClubForTroublesomeWomen #harpercollinsAu #historicalfiction #womensfiction

4.5 stars for me! Historical fictions are new for me bt I'm trying to expand my horizons and based on the synopsis I knew this would be a great and interesting read! Unfortunately I felt it was a little slow for me which deters it from being a 5 star read. However, 4.5 because I absolutely loved everything else about this book!

In the Book Club for troublesome Women Marie Bostwick returns to her historical fiction roots and tells the story of 4 women forming a book club in an affluent Virginia suburb in 1963. Virtual strangers at the beginning, they start with Betty Friedans groundbreaking the Feminine Mystique. It starts a discussion of women's roles and choices, and turns a book club into an unbreakable friendship of very different but strong women.

It did take me a while to get immersed in the story, but once I did I really enjoyed watching each of our characters grow as well as being reminded of how hard it was for women to be independent in the sixties. I also enjoyed how the author incorporated real life characters of the time into the novel, such as Katherine Graham and Jaqueline Kennedy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you to net galley and harper muse for the e galley.

📖 New Book Review 📖

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was a very slow starter for me. I felt like there should be the climactic point in the book but there wasn’t. What I did find, however, was a group of women better known as “The Bettys” who create a small book club. This story takes place in the early 1960s when women were not meant to work and ridiculed when they did. It was viewed as a slight upon their husbands whose job was to work and bring in a good wage. Their first book is The Feminine Mystique and each woman finds themselves written on the pages which does not thrill them. This story cements their relationships. Individually each of them wants a different life than they have. They want more and wants their lives to have meaning and purpose. With the Betty’s support each of them begins to redefine who they are in their relationship but also who they are on their own. This enables them to go out and enjoy life; return to work after having children; go to university and reevaluating the relationships they have with their husbands/partners. Not all of these changes are successful, however, they have one another that empowers them, supports them and encourages them.

This book took me on a journey backwards in time, and, gave me 4 new friends. Furthermore, it highlighted just how different society was back then. Despite starting as a slow burner it was a beautifully written book that I will definitely read again.

The majority of this book takes place in the 1960s and centers on a group of women who form a book club that first reads The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This sparks them to reimagine their own lives and inspires them in ways you will love to see. It includes real life challenges and I loved seeing the women band together to help each other through them.

I really wish I could say I liked this book more than I did. The premise is great-- a perfect antidote to tradwife nonsense --but the story itself is inconsistent, both in terms of pacing and characterization.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is set in 1963, shortly after the publication of The Feminine Mystique. A group of suburban housewives in Virginia start a book club and their first pick is Friedan's new release: a decision that will change all of their lives.

Moving through the perspectives of these women-- Margaret, Viv, Bitsy and Charlotte --Bostwick explores this very specific time and place. She covers the weird post-war housewife fixation and propaganda in America, showing how emerging consumerism benefitted from encouraging this as a "natural" role for middle class women because it sold household appliances. We see the invisible labour carried out by women, how challenging it could be to have and keep a career, and how many housewives turned to prescription drugs to cope with their six kids and stagnant lives (literally Mother's Little Helper.)

In 1963, married women couldn't open a bank account without their husband's permission (even if the money going into it was their own wage), couldn't be prescribed the pill without his signature. It was stifling just reading about it.

I also really appreciated that Bostwick acknowledged the limitations of Friedan's work. As Viv notes, her book primarily applies to middle class women with choices, whereas many other women, and men, were forced to work jobs they hate just to feed their kids.

But while all this is great, these positives are all about the message of the book and the takeaways from Betty Friedan's writing. What actually unfolded in the story was... not that much. Especially when compared to the length of the book. There were quite a lot of slow spots, good bits interspersed with more tedious stretches.

Also, I know women faced a lot of difficulties at this time, but I was disappointed that we didn't see much in the way of the promised "troublesome women." Only Charlotte really caused any trouble (and that was thanks to her brilliant daughter). It was frustrating that Bitsy and Margaret's lives only really changed as a result of their husbands' decisions; they themselves did not actually make much trouble. There was a lot of tongue-biting and easy forgiveness, and while I appreciate character growth, I did not fully buy Walt's about-turn.

Still, I read it all and made a bunch of notes, so obviously not a bad read. Charlotte's story was by far the most satisfying.

No one writes about friendship like Marie Bostwick. She captures the frustration and dreams of women in the 60s and the societal norms that block them. Margaret Ryan has a wonderful husband, children, a nice house and it should be enough, but it isn't. Starting a Book Club with two of her friends takes a turn when she meets the flamboyant Charlotte who suggests they read the book, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Published in 1963, Friedan changed the lives of many women who yearned for more from life. Recommended for Book Clubs, many discussion points.

If you know me, you know a book about books (or a book club) will pull me in immediately. This was an enjoyable read, highlighting the struggles of women, especially in gaining respect in their own household. The Betty’s have someone for everyone, but I’m partial to Bitsy.
In the current political climate in America, this book may bring out some worries, but I’m hopeful of its empowering message.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women was interesting - not necessarily because of the content, but because the characters felt so familiar even though they're from a wildly different time than I was raised. Viv, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Margaret were all relatable in their own ways, and their personalities were so complimentary to one another. I love that they all bonded over The Feminine Mystique (maybe bonded isn't the correct word - grew together, perhaps) in a time where women were greatly marginalized. I was interested to find some things coming to the forefront that are extremely relevant in the political climate of today (such as the men having to sign off on their wives birth control pills), which helped me with the slow burn of the book. I really wanted them to shake things up, to break the stigma, and would have been glad to see them go on to be disruptors. It also really bothers me that they're all white women, which I know is a double edged sword in that time, but it can and should be done if possible. Each one of the women was rather privileged, and I wish that hadn't been the case.

The digital format of this book made it nearly impossible to read. Perhaps I'd try again with a physical copy, but I couldn't make it past more a few chapters.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for an advanced reader copy of this book!

America in the 60s might not be too relatable for someone who lives seven seas far away from it, but I think it captures brilliantly the state of women in societies accelerating constantly to bring them down, within a cultural hegemony of making themselves the golden standard. It’s narrative is tightly woven between these four women and their lives intersecting with revolutionising their conscious abilities to fight against stereotypical roles of a house-wife, of a mother, of a woman, and to fight for freedom within different standards of equity. All the characters have distinct personalities to them, which brighten up the book and the way in which it tackles several familiar dynamics between family, identity, cultural prognosis of mental health. It is slow paced, and all the main characters are white--where we don’t get to see a diverse effects of that ‘dream’ on people of colour. It drag a bit towards the end, and to see how easily their need for freedom, success was pushed for them, the privilege still rushing through. Although it was entertaining to see how their happy endings culminated at end.

Four women who live just outside of Washington DC in the early 1960's become friends, united by being in a book club where they first read Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique. The "Betty's" become close as they go thru struggles between their traditional roles as wives and mothers while also wanting careers and passions. One is an aspiring magazine writer, one is an equine vet assistant to her husband, one is an aspiring artist from a judgmental wealthy family, and one is a former combat nurse with six kids. These four friends explore who they are and what they want out of their lives, set to the backdrop of the mid-1960's.

This was a great historical fiction book. It felt like the spirit sister to The Women by Kristin Hannah, so if you liked that one, you might like this one too. I thought the four women were great and so well written and different enough from each other that I didn't have any trouble keeping them straight (so refreshing!) I loved the rural Maryland setting and the time period, with a few touches of well-known names to help center the cultural time period. I listened to this on audio and read it and really liked both versions. They audio was great and kept the pace moving well.

I would highly recommend this historical fiction novel for readers of Kristin Hannah and Beatriz Williams. Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy and audio for review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. As a woman and a full-time working mom, this book angered me, touched me and resonated with me. It was politically timely, with some deep and subversive themes that really made me think. When I finished this book, I walked away with a long reading list of books referenced in this one. What I also enjoyed about this book was its depiction of ideal female relationships—women supporting women through all odds. This was an inspiring and deep piece of historical fiction that will stick with me for a long time.

This book was an opportunity for me to review for NetGalley and I have to say - I really enjoyed this story! It was well written and definitely an eye opener to how much has and has NOT changed in society since the 40's, 50's, 60's or even 70's for women. The "Bettys" were an eclectic group that alone may not have been enough to carry a storyline as their own character, but the experiences they shared with one another helped each one to grow and learn in different ways and view life from different perspectives, which was amazing! Empowering for women AND for men, as was evident from some of the husbands in the story, who were not afraid to show the societal burden they carried as well to be someone they didn't necessarily want to be, even though it was expected from them as men of a certain era. Equality doesn't have to be a battle - based on merit instead of gender, it is amazing what each of us is capable of accomplishing! Definitely recommend! Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity!! 4.5 Stars!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7268008853

The book explores the meaning of friendships and building each other up as women. This is about housewives in the 1960’s who become closer through motherhood, community and feminism. The 1963 northern Virginia suburb setting felt super raw and real. Marie Bostwick did a phenomenal job making each woman feel real and distinct, and I was completely engrossed in their journeys. The frustration of where women were and are now is palable but also sad because as far as we have come there is so much more to go. The characters show how women during this time were marginalized and encouraged to be satisfied with motherhood and caring for their families and their homes. I enjoyed getting to know each of the characters (including their fashion, recipes, daily lives and reactions to current events of the time), their individual struggles and their personal growth. There are many other historical references in the book, such as Margaret being unable to cash a check in her own name or open a bank account without her husband signing the bank card, as well as historical events surrounding JFK and Dr. Martin Luther King. The way each of the women fights for their own independence while also supporting their family and, in some cases, seeing things from their husband's perspective too makes this such an interesting read. It is not at all a book about bashing men or husbands. Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher.

Perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand's "Summer of '69", this is a great book about female friendships, romantic relationships, living as a woman in the 1960s, and how we all have different dreams in life.

Margaret, Viv, Bitsy, and Charlotte are all fantastic characters with vastly different stories and backgrounds, and somehow they come together to form a bookclub to discuss the newly released (and very controversial) "The Feminine Mystique". They don't know it at the time, but this will start them all on a path to becoming more comfortable in their own skins and changing their lives.

I think my true rating for this story is a 3.5 rounded up to 4, because I did really and truly enjoy this book! The characters were all enjoyable, there was enough plot and character building to keep me coming back, and I truly did care about what happened in the end. I knocked off some points for the fact that I think there was more that could be done regarding Viv and Bitsy. While they had chapters dedicated to them, Margaret was definitely the star of the story, with Charlotte taking a close second. It felt like we could have gotten a little more background from them, as well as more information about Bitsy's life in the epilogue since she's the one whom we know the least about.

Overall though, this was a really enjoyable book that I think most women will enjoy reading (maybe even as a bookclub pick!). Definitely give this one a try if you like women's historical fiction!

Historical fiction about a group of suburban housewives who form a book club in a "planned community" in Virginia in 1963. Margaret, Viv, Bitsy and eccentric Charlotte, a New Yorker who has recently moved into the neighbourhood, decide to get together and form a book club choosing The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan as their first read. The controversial and groundbreaking book which had just been published in February strikes a chord with the four women who each have been feeling dissatisfied and longing for more from their lives but didn't realize that there were other women who felt the same. Calling themselves 'The Bettys", the fledgling book club leads to the formation of a close friendship that provides support for each of the women over the course of the year.

This is an interesting work of historical fiction about a time when the world was rapidly changing particularly in relation to women's rights. The novel takes place over several months in 1963 leading up to the assasination of JFK and is the story of four suburban housewives trying to break free of the limitations placed on them because they were women and the challenges they faced in that regard. It's an enjoyable story about the power of books and female friendship as well as a good reminder of the progress that has been made in the past 60 years that needs to be protected in today's political climate.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Focus for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.