The Book Club For Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

 

The time is the 1960's and the place is a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC.  The suburb is full of stay-at-home moms, men who worked grueling careers and tons of expectations.  Men were to work and support the family.  Women were to stay at home, cleaning and watching the children and making a home.  The man was the undisputed head of the household.  Women couldn't open a bank account or buy a car by themselves but had to have their husband's permission and signature.

Four women get tired of the usual gossipy coffee klatches and decide to start a book club.  Margaret has three children and wants to be a writer.  As far as she has gotten is a household tip column in a women's magazine.  Bitsy is just married.  She wanted to be a veterinarian but had to settle for marrying one instead.  Viv has six children and another on the way.  She was a nurse during the War and would love to restart her career.  Charlotte is the outrider.  She comes from money and has designer clothes.  Her two children are almost grown and her husband spends his life working for her father and cheating on her every chance he gets.  Charlotte spends her time painting although she isn't sure she has enough talent to make it.  She is the one who chooses the first book, Betty Freidan's The Feminine Mystique. 

As the women read the book and discuss it's ideas, they start to change.  They form a support group and each one starts to go after her dreams  It isn't an easy road but they are committed to making changes and not living the stultifying life they have been dealt.  Things change in their lives, some changes positive, some negative but whatever happens they have each other.  

Marie Bostwick is an American author and has written over twenty books, most in the women's fiction genre.  This is my first book by her but I enjoyed it quite a lot and will be looking for more of her work.  I was in elementary school in this time period so this is the story of my mother's generation.  I remember how little support there was when she decided to go back to teaching; she couldn't drive and still had to handle all the cooking and cleaning.  I was a young adult in the 1970's and I do remember having to be married to get the birth control pill and having a man at the car dealership tell me I needed to bring my husband if I wanted to buy a car.  Things have changed quite a bit and I hope younger women read this book and see where their freedoms started and how strong women had to be in order to claim their own rights to live lives they dreamed of.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.