Guess who my guest is for this column?
Me!
My new novel, THE BOOK CLUB FOR TROUBLESOME WOMEN, has just been released and I am over-the-moon excited about it! I’m so excited that I decided to interview myself this month. So, let’s get to it…
Thanks for making the time to talk with us today, Marie. Please share a quick synopsis of your new novel, THE BOOK CLUB FOR TROUBLESOME WOMEN.
I’d love to! THE BOOK CLUB FOR TROUBLESOME WOMEN is set in a suburb of Northern Virginia, not far from Washington, DC, in 1963. It tells the story of four quietly unhappy housewives who can’t understand why “having it all” somehow doesn’t seem like enough.
When Charlotte, an artsy, eccentric woman moves to the neighborhood, Margaret Ryan impulsively decides to form a book club in hopes of getting to know the intriguing newcomer. At Charlotte’s insistence, the first of the many popular books they will read in Betty Friedan’s blockbuster, The Feminine Mystique. The four women have no idea that books they read and the friendship they develop as a result of their impromptu book club will become the glue that will help them hold fast during what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.
Sounds like a great read, Marie! Where did you get the idea for this book?
The idea was sparked about three years ago, during a conversation with my mom, who is something of a force of nature. At 92, she’s a quick draw with a cocktail shaker, continues to work part time as a consultant, and is an avid reader. We were discussing books one evening when The Feminine Mystique came up. “That book changed my life,” she said. “Did I ever tell you?” She hadn’t. But only minutes after she started explaining how the book had impacted her and her friends, a group of quietly unhappy housewives who couldn’t understand what they felt so empty inside, I knew what I had stumbled upon an idea for a really, really terrific novel.
The characters, plot, and setting of The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a product of my own imagination, and quite different from Mom’s experience. But her comment was the seed from which an entire book grew.
What type of research went into this story?
To start with, I read The Feminine Mystique at least three or four times. By modern standards, it’s definitely an imperfect book. But in that era, the things Friedan was saying were groundbreaking and extremely controversial.
I also read several books about the history of feminism and society’s response to Friedan’s book, plus some biographies about real historical people who make cameo appearances in the book. In addition to online research about the period, I interviewed my mother. Getting her take on what life was life for women before and after the publication of The Feminine Mystique was eye-opening.
I also spent some time reading magazines from the 60’s, which were incredibly influential during that period. Basically, magazines were TikTok of that era. Whenever I could, I bought actual vintage copies of the magazines, so I could experience them the way my characters would have.
That was some of my favorite part of the research process but boy! Were there were some truly vile magazine recipes back then! And the pictures were even worse. I don’t know when food styling became a profession, but it was clearly post 1960s.
Like every other avid reader, I love books about books – and book clubs. Do you belong to a book club?
Yes, I have for many years, and those experiences definitely informed the story as far as how the characters interact and relate to each other, and how the books they read do change their lives and expand their horizon.
Book clubs will find so much fodder for discussion in these pages, so much –the choices and course corrections the characters make as the story unfolds, the ways they support each other, or fail to support each other, and the myriad ways in which a story set in 1963 still rings true to women today.
The core of this story is centered on the feminine experience, but that experience that is unique to every woman. And that’s kind of the point. If I had to pick out just a few lines from the book to sum up what I most wanted to say, it would be these…
“…there are countless good and right ways to be a woman and only two wrong. The first is to insist that your way is the way, the only way. The second is to buy into that nonsense and spend your life limping along an aimless path in shoes that will never fit.”
I understand you’re on book tour. Where are you going and how can people meet up with you?
This is my twenty-second novel, but this is the most extensive tour I’ve ever undertaken. I’m visiting eleven states for close to fifty events. It’s crazy! But I think it’ll be fun too, and I’m hoping to meet lots of new and old friends on the road.
The best way to find out where I’ll be is to visit the online calendar at my website. Here’s the link! https://mariebostwick.com/calendar/
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.
Women's Fiction Friendship [Harper Muse, On Sale: April 22, 2025, Trade Size / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9781400344741 / eISBN: 9781400344758]
When not curled up with a good book, Marie Bostwick can usually be found in her office, trying to write one.
A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty uplifting works of historical and contemporary fiction, Marie’s books are beloved by readers across the globe.
Drawing on her lifelong love of quilting and her unshakable belief in the power of sisterhood, Marie’s popular Cobbled Court Quilt series has been embraced by quilters and non-sewers alike. Her standalone books have also found a passionate following among lovers of women’s fiction. Marie’s novel, The Second Sister” was adapted into the 2018 Hallmark Hall of Fame feature film “Christmas Everlasting”, starring Patti LaBelle. Marie’s most recent novel, Hope on the Inside, was published in March 2019 and was chosen as a Reader’s Digest “Select Editions” book.
Marie’s novel, Hope on the Inside, was published in March 2019 and was chosen as a Reader’s Digest “Select Editions” book. Marie’s books have been published in fourteen different languages.
Her latest novel, “The Book Club for Troublesome Women”, will be published on April 22nd, 2025 by Harper Muse, a fiction imprint of Harper Collins Focus.
Marie lives in Washington state with her husband and a beautiful but moderately spoiled Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
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