Twenty years in a loveless marriage was enough for Evelyn Henderson. Once she found out that Reno's divorce residency laws went from six months for women seeking an uncontested divorce to six weeks, she bought a train ticket to Reno. With the necessary papers in hand and a reservation at the Flying N Ranch, Evelyn sets out to gain her freedom and start her new life. The year was 1931 and women had few options and she was not going to let this one pass her by. Little did she know what impact these six weeks would have on her life.
Evelyn is a fascinating protagonist. She was hardly prepared for the things that happened during her stay. After all, she was raised in a religious household, her husband had once been an academic and she had been raised with certain standards. She was a woman who knew her place in society and she knew how to conform to the rules of her world. She was a woman who wore gloves. However, there was one surprising aspect of Evelyn's life that simply didn't fit the mold. She had worked as a runway model and hoped to resume her career once she obtained her divorce. Expertly presented is the large cast of characters. The author brings to readers a varied group who represent many different walks of life and they all have their own distinct personalities. Their relationships are described candidly and it becomes obvious that freedom can be emotionally and psychologically expensive.
SIX WEEKS IN RENO, by Lucy H. Hedrick, brings to life a place and time that is an interesting part of women's and Nevada's history. This book is well worth reading. Highly recommended.
A woman at a “divorce ranch” in 1930s Reno strives to live life on her own terms in a powerful novel about heartbreak, hope, and the allure of the unknown.
September 27, 1931. Today my new life begins.
After twenty years in a loveless marriage, Evelyn Henderson will do anything to escape her stifling suburban life. She boards a train for Reno, Nevada, a former frontier town that’s booming thanks to “six-weekers”: women from all walks of life who take up residence there just long enough to secure an uncontested divorce—a right they don’t yet have in their home states.
Evelyn settles into the Flying N Ranch and soon bonds with her housemates, most of whom have never ventured this far from home—or from societal conventions. The Biggest Little City in the World offers a heady taste of freedom for the six-weekers: horseback riding in denim and fringe by day and being courted by dance-hall cowboys by night. But underneath the glamour are the grim realities of Depression-era America, as well as the devastating consequences of escape.
As Evelyn is drawn out of her shell by a Hollywood-handsome wrangler and challenged by her new friends to reengage with the world in all its heartbreaking complexity, one thing becomes clear: six weeks will change her life forever.
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