“When she told her father she was going to Reno for the six weeks needed to establish residency and be granted a divorce, she imagined renting a room in a hotel, eating a rare steak alone at a table draped in thick white cloth, men watching her as she lit a cigarette.”
The Divorcées, Rowan Beaird
Lois, our main character, is not happy in her traditional 1950s marriage. Her husband expects her to clean the house, take care of his needs, and attend social events as a charming socialite. Unfortunately, that’s not a list of things Lois can force herself to care about anymore. To get a no fault divorce, she needs to establish residency in the state of Nevada, which leads her to a divorce ranch called the Golden Yarrow. She has to stay at the ranch for 6 weeks, and then she’ll be able to get her divorce, and move on with her life.
The premise of this book was completely unique, and drew me in right away. There’s a large group of women at the ranch, all at the same point in life, but with vastly different life experiences. I really enjoyed the dynamics between the women and their many escapades outside of the ranch.
I will say that this book is mostly character-driven. The 6 week timeline keeps things moving, but there’s still a lot of time spent with just Lois and her thoughts. There’s a few moments where the action picks up a little bit, for the most part, this is a slow-moving story about one woman becoming independent in the 1950s.
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My only complaint with the story focuses on Lois. And I’ll acknowledge from the beginning that Lois is a complicated main character that I didn’t find likable. The only feature that actually pulled me out of the story was Lois’s two obsessions: herself and the newest resident, Greer. Over half the book is spent with Lois just ruminating about her life and/or how absolutely amazing Greer is. To be fair, the most appropriate time to be a little self-obsessed is during your divorce, but with no self-awareness, it gets boring SO fast. Her obsession with Greer also has a lot of romantic and possessive undertones that are never explored further. With both obsessions, the lack of growth kept me from getting attached to either character.
Overall, this plot was unique enough to keep my attention. While clearly not a perfectly accurate depiction of divorcée life in the 50s, the portrayal of the women, their previous lives, and their new choices, was a fascinating world that I’d never really spent time in before. And while parts of the story moved slowly, the ending definitely made up for a lot of the pacing issues. So if you’re looking for a new spin on historical fiction, I’d give this one a try!
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