{Audiobook Review} The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick, Narrated by Lisa Flanagan

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Focus for providing me with a free copy of this book for review.

As an undergraduate, I had a wonderful English professor who introduced me to vintage chick lit. Though the term “chick lit” can be used derisively, I use it to refer to literature written by, for, and about women. In this course, I read The Feminine Mystique  by Betty Friedan, so a book about a women’s book club centered around Friedan’s work naturally grabbed my interest. I’m happy that I was selected as a reviewer, as this novel is everything I hoped it’d be.

BOOK DETAILS

Title: The Book Club for Troublesome Women

Author: Maries Bostwick

Narrator: Lisa Flanagan

Publisher: HarperCollins Focus

Publication Date: 22 April 2025

Genre: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Format: Audiobook

Listening Time: 11 hours, 10 minutes

ABOUT THE BOOK (from the book)

Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club . . . or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb.

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her website)

Marie Bostwick is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of insightful, uplifting fiction for women. Marie lives in Oregon with her husband. When not writing books, she enjoys quilting, hiking, cooking, and creating posts on her lifestyle blog, Fiercely Marie.

Learn more about her on her website, or follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

ABOUT THE NARRATOR {from Penguin Random House}

Lisa Flanagan is an award-winning narrator, voice actor, stage director, improvisor, opera librettist, and classical singer. Her voice-over work includes animation, video games, and commercials. Lisa has received multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, Voice Arts Awards, and the 2019 Audie Award winner for Fantasy. She has cats and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

BOOK REVIEW

Star Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Need an explanation of my book rating system? Read here.

My Thoughts

I love a book based on a book with books scattered throughout. The Book Club for Troublesome Women is centered around a group of women who read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, is a groundbreaking manifesto that gave voice to women’s belief that institutions were working to stifle their creativity and intellect in an effort to keep them at home {aka “the problem that has no name”}. That being said, the book was problematic in that it focused only on middle class white women and ignored Black women, women of color, and women who had to work in order to support their families. This is the world that is inhabited by Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv.

I found the Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv to be relatable and charming in their own way. The character growth was not what I expected. Many of the choices made by the women were in reaction to decisions of the men in their lives. I would’ve liked to have seen more autonomy on the part of the women. For example, Bitsy could’ve left her cad of a husband when he was disrespecting her, rather than waiting to find out he had a pregnant side piece. Still, the way the women supported each other was well written.

The supporting characters were well written and provided a nice break in the drama between the women. These characters also filled in the gaps that were glaringly obvious in Friedan’s original work. Additionally, there were historical events and a running list of books that also added to the story and helped challenge the circumstances of the women’s lives.

My greatest takeaway from this novel is that women need a support system that is comprised of other women. We absolutely cannot make it through this world on our own. The relationship that develops between Margaret, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Viv is relatable and aspirational. We watch them go from strangers who meet by happenstance to framily {friends + family} who are deeply devoted to each other individually and collectively. Even the women’s families come to rely on the women for support and intercession when needed.

I loved that the author’s note at the end of the book contained important historical information relevant to the lives of women, such as the fact that women weren’t able to benefit from the Equal Credit Opportunity Act until 1974 or that women required their husband’s permission in order to receive medical care {side note: I was a corporal in the U.S. Army and a mother of three who needed my husband’s permission to have a tubal ligation. This was in 1996.}.

This novel is a nice counter to the “trad wife” trend that seems to be taking shape online.

Narration

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this novel; Lisa Flanagan’s narration of this story was superb. She expertly captured the unique personalities of the four female main characters by imbuing them with distinct accents and vocal intonations. Flanagan’s pacing was perfectly suited to the novel, resulting in a pleasant listening experience.

Recommended For

This book would make an excellent choice for book clubs as there are a wide variety of topics to discuss: women’s issues, family relationships, race relations, maternal health, veteran care, and so much more. I’d also recommend this book for American history courses that use nonfiction novels for supplemental reading.

Trigger Warnings

Drug use.

IT’S YOUR TURN

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? Let’s discuss in the comments below. If you haven’t, feel free to purchase the book using the link below.

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BOOKISH THINGS

Bookshop.org – Shop for books selected by me, for you!

NetGalley Professional Reader – I receive free ARCs from NetGalley to review on my blog and share on Instagram.

The StoryGraph – A reading app that shares all the nerdy details of my bookish life.

THANK YOU

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