The Young Wives Club
by Julie Pennell
In this debut novel, you’ll get to immerse yourself in a way of life you might not have known about: small town living in Louisiana. These girls say “y’all”, eat crawfish, and think getting married at 18 is ideal. That’s why Laura thinks she has the best life ever: she dropped out of high school to marry the quarterback, and she followed him to college where he became a big football star. But what happens when he suffers a massive injury and might not be able to play again? They return home with their tails between their legs and move in with his parents. Do you think that might put a strain on their marriage?
Another young wife is Claire, a pastor’s wife who fears she’s not enticing enough for her husband anymore. Gabrielle, a bride-to-be, has been lying to her fiancé since the day she met him. She’s been pretending to be high-class, but really she’s dirt-poor and her mother is in prison. Madison isn’t married or engaged, but she’s also in dire straits. Her family is poor, her father is ill, and they’re in danger of losing their home. Will her lottery tickets pay off, or will her on-again-off-again musician finally commit and take her out of her misery?
A similarity all four women have, besides being friends, is that they’ve all sacrificed their whole beings for the men in their lives. Laura didn’t even finish school, Claire posts all her husband’s religious tweets in his name and is also doing research for his book, Gabrielle judges her self-worth by what her boyfriend will think of her, and Madison continually lets herself be used for a good time. There is no actual “club” as the title suggests, but the four friends commiserate and support each other as they each learn to value themselves and put themselves first. This shouldn’t be a spoiler-alert, because any self-respecting women’s fiction novel will always feature a bit of women’s empowerment. Just keep in mind that the four young women are very young. If you’re in your forties, you might not be able to relate to them, and you might find them too silly. But if you remember high school like it was yesterday and are looking for a light beach read that doesn’t actually take place at the beach, you’ll like it.
Another young wife is Claire, a pastor’s wife who fears she’s not enticing enough for her husband anymore. Gabrielle, a bride-to-be, has been lying to her fiancé since the day she met him. She’s been pretending to be high-class, but really she’s dirt-poor and her mother is in prison. Madison isn’t married or engaged, but she’s also in dire straits. Her family is poor, her father is ill, and they’re in danger of losing their home. Will her lottery tickets pay off, or will her on-again-off-again musician finally commit and take her out of her misery?
A similarity all four women have, besides being friends, is that they’ve all sacrificed their whole beings for the men in their lives. Laura didn’t even finish school, Claire posts all her husband’s religious tweets in his name and is also doing research for his book, Gabrielle judges her self-worth by what her boyfriend will think of her, and Madison continually lets herself be used for a good time. There is no actual “club” as the title suggests, but the four friends commiserate and support each other as they each learn to value themselves and put themselves first. This shouldn’t be a spoiler-alert, because any self-respecting women’s fiction novel will always feature a bit of women’s empowerment. Just keep in mind that the four young women are very young. If you’re in your forties, you might not be able to relate to them, and you might find them too silly. But if you remember high school like it was yesterday and are looking for a light beach read that doesn’t actually take place at the beach, you’ll like it.