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Cover of The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick

Historical Fiction · Free kit

The Book Club for Troublesome Women

Marie Bostwick

Concordia, Virginia, 1963: Margaret Ryan has the station wagon, the children, the picturesque suburb — and a nameless hunger she can't put on the grocery list. When intriguing new neighbor Charlotte Gustafson arrives, Margaret invents a book club and ropes in Viv Buschetti and Bitsy Cobb. They christen themselves the Bettys, open Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, and discover that friendship, cocktails, and the right book can turn a "perfect" year into a free one.

“On paper, she has it all. So why doesn't that feel like enough?”

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Plan your meeting

Reading schedule · Book vote

The Book Club for Troublesome Women Icebreakers

Answer in under 30 seconds. These connect to the book’s themes without spoiling the story.

  1. Personality Reveal

    1. Are you the member who picks the ambitious book, or the member who lobbies for something lighter?

  2. Personality Reveal

    2. In a group, do you share the vulnerable thing first or wait until someone else cracks the seal?

  3. Personality Reveal

    3. Do you prefer friendship with weekly ritual (club night!) or spontaneous hangouts only?

  4. Funny & Light

    4. What's the most 1960s-coded advice you've ever received unsolicited?

  5. Funny & Light

    5. If your book club needed a secret society name tonight, what would it be?

  6. Funny & Light

    6. What's a domestic skill you fake confidently?

  7. Would You Rather

    7. Would you rather host every month, or never host but always bring the best snack?

  8. Would You Rather

    8. Would you rather read a life-changing difficult book, or a delightful book you forget in a week?

  9. Would You Rather

    9. Would you rather have a neighbor who becomes your best friend, or perfect fences and total peace?

  10. Hot Take

    10. Hot take: book clubs are friendship technology disguised as literacy. Agree?

  11. Hot Take

    11. Hot take: "having it all" was always a marketing slogan, not a life plan.

  12. Hot Take

    12. Hot take: the right first book can change a group's entire culture.

  13. Personal Connection

    13. What book (or essay) first gave you language for something you'd felt but couldn't name?

  14. Personal Connection

    14. Who was your first "Charlotte" — the person whose arrival rearranged your social map?

  15. Personal Connection

    15. What ambition did you put down for a while — and did you pick it back up?