#Blogtour The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird @rbeaird @bonnierbooks @RandomTTours #TheDivorcees

The Blurb

Lois Saunders thought that marrying the right man would finally cure her loneliness. But as picture-perfect as her husband is, she is suffocating in their loveless marriage. In 1951, though, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce – except in Reno, Nevada.
At the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable of Reno’s ‘divorce ranches’ Lois finds herself living with half a dozen other would-be divorcées, all in Reno for the six weeks’ residency that is the state’s only divorce requirement. They spend their days riding horses and their nights flirting with cowboys, and it’s as wild and fun as Lake Forest, Illinois, was prim and stifling. But it isn’t until Greer Lange arrives that Lois’s world truly cracks open . . .
Gorgeous, beguiling, and completely indifferent to societal convention, Greer is unlike anyone Lois has ever met – and she sees something in Lois that no one else ever has. Under her influence, Lois begins to push against the limits that have always restrained her. But how much can she really trust her mysterious new friend? And how far will she go to forge her independence, on her own terms?

My Review

1950’s America, the Second World War is long over, the men are back at work, back in control. Women are the property of men, at the behest of a husbands decisions and actions, divorce frowned upon, the woman vilified for wanting such a thing. One state offered a loophole, Reno Nevada Lois’s destination, off to a divorce ranch to be rid of her husband.

Beaird’s Lois was naive, timid, perhaps a little odd, friendships not her thing, but she gave her the strength and bravery to do what she felt was best. She had just 6 weeks to endure and Beaird made it the most enlightening, eye opening period of her life.

Beaird gave us an eclectic collection of prospective divorcees, enjoying freedom from husbands and children. Late nights at the local bars, before dinner cocktails, hangovers were their main pastimes, the hunt for the next man to look after them a necessity. They were all a product of that time, women as individuals with their own finances and independence still a few years away.

I liked how Beaird chose to put Lois on the outside of the group, her awkwardness clear to all, her own opinions not quite aligned.

Then, in the dead of night Greer Lang appears, shut away in her room, her meals delivered as Beaird created a wonderful mysterious aura around her. As she emerges she is the light to which the moths circle, Lois fascinated that this woman could be so bold with little regard to the perceived norm within the group. Greer takes Lois under her wing, their nights filled with late nights drinking, trips to the local casino, challenging Lois to small dares that slowly become bigger until the ultimate plan is hatched offering the two of them freedom.

Its not for me to say if their plan worked if they got their freedom, that would be too much of a spoiler. What I can say it that it was totally enlightening for Lois, the possibility that her dream of being an independent woman could be a reality, one that she wasn’t going to let pass her by.

The Divorcees was a wonderful observation of what it meant to be a woman in the 1950’s. Beairds characters were the best and the worst examples of women, some you loved, others you would quite happily have ignored. Her Lois and Greer were the epitome of women who wanted and pursued freedom, multidimensional, fascinating making the novel a pure joy to read.

I would like to thank Bonnier for a copy of The Divorcees to read and review and to Random Things Tours for inviting My Bookish Blogspot to participate in the blogtour.

About the author

Rowan Beaird is a writer whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, and The Common, among others. She is the recipient of
the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart. She has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and StoryStudio. She currently works at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Divorcées is her first novel.