 |
| Penguin 21 May 2026 Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book |
In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, Prohibition is on the wane, and the Great Depression is tightening its grip. Poor and rich folks alike have fallen on hard times, even as the old social order remains. For women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high.
Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury, and grit. When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives. Together, they form an unlikely sisterhood—but in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife, women’s freedom is fragile, and making an enemy can have dire consequences, will the price they pay for their outrageous risk-taking be too high.
📖My Review..
Oxford, Mississippi in 1934 is suffering from the consequences of the Great Depression, times are hard and money scarce. Birdie Calhoun leaves her home to travel to Oxford so she can ask her sister, Frances, who has married into a wealthy family, for a handout which will make life a little easier for her mother and grandmother back home. On arrival Birdie finds her sister’s life far from perfect but determined to get what she came for, Birdie immerses herself in Oxford life and it is there where she comes into contact with eleven year old Meg who has been placed in the local orphanage. This eventful meeting will change the course of both Birdie and Meg’s life along with the lives of several other women who enter into the story.
The Calamity Club is a long book, coming in at over 600 pages, and yet I found the story flowed beautifully. It draws you into the lives of others, with characters you soon become emotionally attached to, especially Birdie and Meg, who I loved. Some of it is unbearably sad and yet there were also parts, particularly with the good time girls at the dance club, which made me laugh out loud. Small town America during the years of the depression is highlighted with a real sense of being in the moment, the poverty of some which is juxtaposed against the wealth of others is heartbreaking and the consequences of losing everything features large. It’s also about sisterhood and friendship, of women standing up for each other and of the resilience of fighting back when the odds were stacked against them. The story unfolds almost cinematically and I can well imagine this being snapped up for movie rights, it would make a cracking good film, just as it’s a cracking good read and so, for this reason, I am delighted to make The Calamity Club my Favourite Read of the Month for June.
About the Author
Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Help. She lives in Mississippi and New York City.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for taking the time to comment - Jaffareadstoo appreciates your interest.