The Tobacco Wives
Book Review - The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers
HBL Note: I was so excited about THE TOBACCO WIVES by Adele Myers that I am interviewing her THREE times: on this blog, for the Best of Women’s Fiction podcast (to air March 12) and for the St. Louis County Library (to premiere on March 29.) THE TOBACCO WIVES is her debut novel about a young girl named Maddie Sykes who is tasked with designing gowns for the wives of big tobacco executives for their annual gala. But in the midst of her work, she stumbles upon information that she was never meant to see. Now she has to decide what to do with that information and if there is anyone she can trust to tell this secret.
Book Review - The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers
Book Review - The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers
From the publisher:
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.
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, and 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.
Book Review - The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers
