by: Adele Myers
Goodreads Synopsis:
Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who’s just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina—the tobacco capital of the South—where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes, and, most of all, her aunt’s glossiest clientele: the wives of the powerful tobacco executives.
When a series of unexpected events thrusts Maddie into the role of lead dressmaker for the town’s most influential women, she scrambles to produce their ornate gowns for the biggest party of the season. But she soon learns that Bright Leaf isn’t quite the carefree paradise that it seems: A trail of misfortune follows many of the women, including substantial health problems. Although Maddie is quick to believe that this is a coincidence, she inadvertently uncovers evidence that suggests otherwise.
Maddie wants to report what she knows, but in a town where everyone depends on Big Tobacco to survive, she doesn’t know who she can trust—and fears that exposing the truth may destroy the lives of the proud, strong women with whom she has forged strong bonds.
Shedding light on the hidden history of women’s activism during the post-war period, at its heart, The Tobacco Wives is a deeply human, emotionally satisfying, and dramatic novel about the power of female connection and the importance of seeking truth.
Helen says: 🤓🤓🤓
This had a pretty good start and kept my attention enough. Honestly, this was hard to read after completing the beautifully written novel Land and the addictive read The Calamity Club. It’s not really fair to review a book after finishing two great ones aforementioned. It paled in comparison, but I persevered. I could definitely see where this story was going as it was predictable with lots of obvious foreshadowing. I loved all of the North Carolina references, but there was an artificiality to it, too (like what a yankee would think North Carolina was like back then). I switched back and forth between reading and Audible…Audible kept my attention more.
Holly says: 🤓🤓🤓
I started The Tobacco Wives and Calamity Club at the same time and had to stop because I kept getting some of the characters confused. I ended up finishing this book first simply because it was much shorter. This one is okay, overly simple in many ways. It is entertaining, but there is not much depth to it. Nothing surprising, pretty predictable, and somewhat stereotypical. Tobacco man = bad, tobacco wife = bad/good, tobacco factory worker = good. If you are interested in the topic, grab it for a quick, pretty entertaining read.
Helen and Holly Hit the Books 