The Book Club for Troublesome Women

The formation of the book club kicks off the action in The Book Club for Troublesome Women, and as it evolves, the club becomes a setting where the women discuss life-transforming ideas and help each other through important changes in their lives. While the book club itself is essential to the plot, one very specific book informs the central themes of the novel: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The women dub their book club the “Betty Friedan book club” and refer to themselves as “Bettys” after Friedan, paying homage to the author of the first book they read together.

Published in 1963, the same year as the novel’s events, Friedan’s bestselling book went on to become “one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century” (Michals, Debra. “Biography: Betty Friedan.” National Women’s History Museum, 2017). Friedan’s writing, which focused on the dissatisfaction that suburban housewives felt with their limited gender roles, resonated with millions of American women, including the book club members. The book was seminal in propelling women into the fight for gender equality in America, and the Bettys represent this rebellion against social norms each in their own way: Margaret takes a job despite her husband’s initial displeasure; Viv returns to the work force after an 18-year break, unusual for both mothers and career women of the time; Bitsy revels in the freedom that her divorce grants her despite social messaging that a woman’s place is beside a man; and Charlotte reclaims power over her own life through her divorce and subsequent settlement.