Lynda C. (Readnmachine) reviewed on 1/23/2020 + 1441 more book reviews

When a transplanted Boston housewife starts a book club in a backwater Florida village in the early 60s, it ends up being much more than any of the members bargain for.

Mostly this book is about changes -- about the social changes that were shaking the new decade as feminism and civil rights took hold, and about a cold war that threatened to get very hot indeed. It's also very much about what lies beneath the surface.

It's a light read generally, with some interesting insights at times. But Hearth loses points for a throwaway revelation about one of the club's members in a "postscript" to the main story, and for glossing over the huge game-changer of an unplanned pregnancy. She's also dressed it up in an unnecessary "I'm an old woman now, telling you this story" framework.

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