The Tobacco Wives

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. When have you been suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar social environment like Maddie was in Bright Leaf?

2. Which female character’s approach to navigating the gender expectations of the 1940s resonated with you most? Why?

3. The novel shows Maddie discovering that knowledge brings both power and responsibility. Describe a time when you learned something that changed your perception of a trusted person or institution.

4. What books or other media have influenced your understanding of gender roles or social justice, similar to how Cornelia’s books affected Maddie?

5. Maddie’s relationship with her mother makes her desire independence. How have your relationships with parental figures influenced your life choices?

6. The tobacco wives maintain a carefully crafted public image despite private struggles. Where have you witnessed this disconnect between public presentation and private reality?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. What parallels do you see between the targeted marketing of MOMints cigarettes to women and contemporary advertising strategies?

2. The novel portrays racial and class divisions in tobacco production. How accurate do you think it is? Where do you see similar systems of power and inequality persisting in modern industries in the US and abroad?

3. The novel’s characters weigh up economic security against moral concerns regarding tobacco. Where do similar tensions exist in contemporary society regarding potentially harmful industries?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What does Maddie’s red hair represent? How and why does the meaning change?

2. How do the novel’s settings highlight the contrast between wealth and poverty in Bright Leaf? Which places in particular speak to this divide?

3. Why did Myers include an Epilogue set 44 years after the main events, and what does this add to the story?

4. Compare the different forms of female empowerment embodied by Mitzy, Ashley, Cornelia, and the factory workers. Which does the novel endorse and why?

5. What does the covered bridge symbolize in relation to both Maddie’s personal journey and the novel’s larger themes?

6. Myers repeatedly contrasts the clean appearance of the tobacco wives with the factory grime that Maddie cannot wash off. What themes emerge from this imagery?