Guest Post by Emily Bleeker

The 1950’s—televisions can be found in most American homes, rock and roll sweeps the charts, birth rates are booming, the space race has begun, and women still have limited rights outside of the bonds of matrimony. Yet, without the power to have their own bank account and credit card, or access to divorce, birth control, or the right to equal employment—there are those fabulous and fierce women who paved the way for the generations to follow. Here are some inspirational reads that remind us how far we’ve come and inspire us to keep moving forward.

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

In McCarthy-era Washington DC at the dawn of the 1950’s there’s an all-female boarding house called Briarwood. Inside lives a collection of boarders, each with their own story to tell, dreams to be had and losses to mourn. Each Thursday night, this eclectic group of women come together for the meeting of The Briar Club. It’s a place of friendship, food, laughter and support—until the evening of Thanksgiving 1954 when murder comes to The Briarwood, and the members of their beloved club start to question everything they’ve come to rely on…and everyone.

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The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

Summer of 1953, Tahran, Iran is a place of change and political unrest. Idealist seventeen-year-old Roya escapes into a world of poetry and imagination at her local stationary shop where she falls deeply in love with a poetic and politically minded young activist. Family, culture and politics all seem to be against their union and when her love disappears on the eve of their secret wedding, Roya knows she must move on. Leaving Iran for a life in America, she gives up all hope of ever learning what happened to her first love—until sixty years later a twist of fate brings them into each other’s lives once again. Will she find her answers?

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The Devil and Mrs. Davenport by Paulette Kennedy

In Missouri, 1955 Loretta Davenport is two things above all else – a wife and a mother and according to her faith and her devout husband that should be enough. And it is enough, or so Loretta tells herself….until she starts to see the visions after a local girl’s murder. Loretta soon finds she has a new calling—one that comes from beyond the grave. And when her husband, a professor at the local Bible College, proclaims her visions demonic- Mrs. Davenport does something she’s never considered before—she disobeys her husband and seeks the help of a Parapsychologist to help her understand her newfound abilities. This is an entertaining and innovative look at the plight of the 1950’s housewife that quietly asks the question—were these really the “good ole days” or just the “good for some days”?

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The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird

In 1951 with no fault divorce still eighteen years out of reach and with two thirds of the U.S. states still treating property acquired during marriage as belonging to the husband, it’s no wonder that Reno’s offer of easy divorce became a haven for men and women, though, mostly women, who wanted to make a new life for themselves. With encouragement from her mother, young Midwestern woman Lois Saunders said “yes” to the first man who showed interest in her. Now, with the support of her father, she’s ending that union in Reno, Nevada—the divorce capital of the US. Six weeks at a divorce ranch is all it would take to provide proof of residence so Lois can move on with her life but those six weeks, and her friendship with one particular resident, changes more in Lois’ life than her marital status.

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The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis

1950’s New York City and the iconic Chelsea Hotel is filled with artists, entertainers and…communist sympathizers? Hazel and Maxine, a playwright and an actress, have been friends since meeting in Italy as part of the USO camp shows during WWII. Reunited for Hazel’s new hit Broadway play, the women’s friendship is tested as the inhabitants of the Chelsea Hotel are put under the microscope of the The Red Scare. So much is at risk—their dreams, friendship, reputation and even possibility their freedom.

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The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

It’s 1950’s Philadelphia. Ruby is a studious high school student who wants nothing more than to break the generational curses of her family by going to college. Her dreams are interrupted after an unexpected connection to her white Jewish landlord’s son. Eleanor, on the other hand, is living Ruby’s fantasy. Though her family is not wealthy, they have worked and saved to help Eleanor attend Howard University. There, she studies relentlessly and meets a young medical student in the library. They soon marry, despite his parent’s protests, and hope to start a family but when infertility ensues, Eleanor sees her own dreams delayed. The two stranger’s stories intersect in unexpected ways, changing both of their lives forever.

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Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner

100-year-old book store, Bloomsbury Books, has been run by men for generations and is governed fifty one unbreakable rules. But now, in 1950’s postwar London, the three women who work in the shop have a mind to make some long-needed changes. And when the stodgy general manager falls ill, opportunity opens a window for the women running the shop. They plot to invite literary phenom Daphne Du Maurier to speak at a midday literary event and things at Bloomsbury are forever changed.

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Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown

Nellie and Alice have a lot in common. They’re both gardeners, don’t work outside the home, know their way around the kitchen, have marital problem and they both live in the same house—only sixty years apart. When Alice and her husband move into the suburbs in 2018 to “settle down and have a family” Alice gets to work on remodeling their dated new home, hoping that by achieving domestic perfection she can keep her husband in the dark about some secrets from her past. When she discovers Nellie’s family cookbook and a collection of unset letters from the seemingly perfect housewife, Alice is enthralled. As she comes to know Nellie through the letters and cookbook she finds parallels between their lives, and Alice starts to wonder if she’s destined to suffer the same fate as Nellie—whatever that may be…

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When We Chased the Light by Emily Bleeker

An old house in Beverly Hills is up for auction, including a stack of postcards detailing the life experiences of Vivian Snow. Vivian is a USO showgirl during World War Two and her husband and recently gone AWOL and is presumed dead. In her grief she leans on Father Trombello, who she shares all her secrets, aside from her secret affection towards him. She soon finds herself thrust into the spotlight, a girl who once was a starlet has grown into a Hollywood icon, and must navigate all the scandal that comes with it. She must quickly learn how to survive in this cutthroat and glittering world of camera flashes and elegant parties, all while holding on to her guilt from the past over her husband’s disappearance.

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About Emily

Emily Bleeker is the New York Times bestselling author of When I’m Gone, a novel all about how love lasts, even if those we loved are no longer there. Her newest novel, When We Chased the Light, is a historical fiction novel about one woman’s rise to Hollywood stardom after being a USO showgirl in the second World War. Bleeker is a former educator who realized she had many worlds living inside her that she uses to inspire her stories, and after her battle with a rare form of cancer, she leaves no minute untouched. In between writing, she lives in Chicago where she participates in an improve group, plays guitar, and deeply loves her kids and family.