The Calamity Club

by Kathryn Stockett

Катрин Стокет в най-увереното, искрено и забавно свое Аз – триумфалното завръщане на една от най-обичаните разказвачки на нашето време.

Оксфорд, Мисисипи, 1933 г. Изоставена от майка си в навечерието на Коледа, единадесетгодишната Мег Лефльор е научила по трудния начин да не разчита на никого. Принудена да понася много несгоди, тя се бори всеки ден, за да оцелее и да не позволи на тираничната директорка на сиропиталището, в което е настанена, да пречупи духа ѝ. Бърди Калхун е самоуверена, пряма, с остро чувство за хумор, неомъжена млада жена. Тя е дошла в Оксфорд, за да помоли сестра си, станала част от висшето общество благодарение на успешния си брак, да помогне на затрудненото семейство, което е оставила зад гърба си. Но докато Голямата депресия затяга хватката си, Бърди открива, че на пръв поглед приятният и бляскав живот на сестра ѝ всъщност е плетеница от лъжи. Тогава Бърди среща Чарли, майката на Мег – жена, на която късметът е обърнал гръб и която няма какво повече да губи. Когато съдбите на трите се преплитат, Чарли измисля отчаян план, който да им помогне да поемат контрола над живота си. Но на място и по време, когато социалното лицемерие се е превърнало в норма, а свободата на жените е толкова крехка, дори най-малкият бунт може да има опасни последствия.

Авторката на световния бестселър „Слугинята“ се завръща с този дързък и вълнуващ роман за група непоколебими жени, които устояват на житейските бури и доказват, че нещастието може да бъде искрата за нужната промяна и новото начало.

„Толкова завладяваща, вълнуваща и абсолютно фантастична, че не искаш да свършва.“ - Oprah Daily

„На моменти смешна, в други драматична и разтърсваща, тази книга предлага запомнящ се поглед към невъзможните избори, пред които са изправени жените по време на Голямата депресия.“ - Publishers Weekly

„Клубът“ носи тежестта на книгите, които ще бъдат запомнени. Тя е толкова иронична, колкото „Параграф 22“, и толкова сурова, колкото „Гроздовете на гнева“. Като роман за трудни времена и трудни избори, тя може да се сравни и с „Отнесени от вихъра“. Сюжетът ѝ е стегнат и умело структуриран, а героите на Стокет са майсторски изградени.“ - The Oxford Eagle

Genres: Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Book Club, Historical, Literary Fiction, Adult

656 pages, Hardcover

First published May 5, 2026

About the author

Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and creative writing, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing for nine years. She currently lives in Mississippi and New York City.

Reviews

[emilybookedup]

5 big beautiful stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ omg this book was everything!! i was so desperate for a 5-star read and so many of you recommended this and you were right—worth the hype!

*highly recommend listening to this on audio. the dual POV narration brought the story and characters’ personalities to life SO well. it’s hefty (28 hours 😳) but honestly flew by!

every time i stopped reading it, i was craving to get back to the story and characters. now since finishing, i’ve been thinking of it nonstop. i miss them 🥹🥹🥹 Birdie and Meg were two of the best main characters ever—so much personality! loved all the secondary characters too… Flossy, Frances, Tom, Esmeralda, the other girls 💖

i went into this book blind and recommend you do too. the synopsis doesn’t give much away anyways and i like that bc this book is NOT what you think it will be in 100 ways 🤣

but, i will say this book is for people who love:
- character driven stories (heavier on character evolution but still has a lot of plot)
- historical fiction not centered around a war
- strong female characters
- learning about our nations history and how it’s treated women and children specifically (i learned SO much… 😭)
- characters with a lot of personality
- plots that keep you guessing
- dual narration / multiple POVs and characters
- emo books with satisfying endings

some people are critical of it bc they say the first and second halves (pt 1 v 2) feel like totally different books and honestly i agree, however that’s why i loved it so much. this book and plot kept me guessing and let’s just say the second half was VERY entertaining lol! i was wondering how the author would keep us invested for 650 pages and she sure delivered!

if i had 1 critique, it’s that i wanted an epilogue. i wanna see where all my girls ended up!!!!!! but honestly maybe that would have made everything feel a bit too perfectly wrapped up which is low key a pet peeve of mine. i just wanted a liiiiittle bit more of the final ending for Meg and Birdie/Frances.

TLDR: cannot recommend it enough!!! it’s lengthy but flies by—you’ll fall in love with these characters and setting! 💙💙💙

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (Semi-Hiatus-attempting return)]

Digital ARC provided via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Enjoyable, but dragged at times for me.

I picked up The Calamity Club because the premise sounded really appealing: set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi during the Great Depression, it follows a group of very different women, including a tough young orphan girl named Meg, who form an unlikely sisterhood and team up to take back some control over their lives.

The story has a lot going for it. The friendships that develop feel warm and genuine, with plenty of humor mixed in with the harder moments of poverty, abandonment, and limited options for women at that time. Stockett brings the era to life with vivid details about the orphanage, small-town

Southern life, and the daily struggles everyone faced. I especially liked Meg’s fierce spirit and how the “Calamity Club” idea brings these characters together in unexpected ways. There were parts that made me laugh out loud and others that tugged at the heartstrings.

That said, at around 600 pages, the pacing dragged in the middle for me. A few sections felt repetitive, and some of the plot resolutions wrapped up a little too conveniently. I also wanted a bit more emotional depth from one or two of the supporting characters.

Overall, it’s a solid, entertaining read about resilience and female friendship, but it didn’t quite keep me fully hooked the whole way through.

If you enjoy big-hearted historical novels about strong women banding together during tough times, this one is worth a read- just be prepared for a slower middle section.

✴︎a˚｡⋆ Connect with me on Instagram ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

[Abbie Konnick]

If I could give it more stars, I would!! I haven’t been this sad to be done with a book maybe ever 🥹

[Canadian Jen]

This calamity club is born out of the perfect storm. It consists of women who are brought together by circumstance. In this case the times - it's 1933 and the shock waves of the depression are still reverberating. Many are poor and have not recovered; families that are broken. Children being dropped off at an orphanage because they can't care for them and one particular orphanage is run by a lunatic.
To make ends meet, a club is born. It is made up of courageous and strong women: Birdie, Charlie and a few others who support these women who do what is necessary when the others are too weak. It’s about getting a child back who should never have been put into an orphanage and ensuring her safety. It’s not always clean work- some of its downright inappropriate and illegal! But sometimes you gotta to do what you gotta do to save a child; a home; a family.

Themes of abandonment, family, friendship, alcoholism, depression, discrimination against women -eugenics- a nasty period in American history.
It was a little long -not sure it needed to be- this is my only criticism to this great story.

Stockett, I’m glad you took your power back after receiving such a backlash over The Help. This was well worth the wait. Do check out the Oprah podcast with Stockett.
4.5⭐️

[Taylor]

I have no idea how this book has like all 5s across the board LOL

First off, it's way too long. It has three strong plot lines (on top of all the random side quests) that barely interact that it really should have just been like three independent books. (Family dealing with financial stresses in the great depression, the brothel, the orphanage.)

Second off, you can majorly tell it was written by the same lady who wrote The Help. And I don't mean that in a flattering way. Kathryn is back at it with the phonetic dialogue that seems to be making a charicature of the time and our main character gives major white savior vibes. She spends the whole book saving the day with a plucky can do attitude on the backs of others while still maintaining her naiveté from the back of her high horse.

Third off, basically every adult character sucks. I know they were a product of the era, but the "spoiled rich women" trope with no idea of money got tiresome.

I feel like the premise of the book had a ton of potential, but really got lost in the 650 pages of sauce.

All of that being said, Meg is an absolute gem and I feel like I might have liked this story a lot more if i felt like it had put more focus on Meg, the orphanage, or her mom's backstory.

Also, ****spoiler*****


our main character "hero" opening a brothel as basically a madam while calling prostitution a "deranged business that she hates" and using the other women to make money to save herself and her family while  she herself maintains her virtue and her church-goer attitude does not give female empowerment energy to me 😂

P s. Author's note highlights additional content about a harrowing time for women in American history that could have been included in the story to give it more depth.

[Caz]

What a masterpiece. This is a beautifully written, character-driven story set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, during the Great Depression.

Told through the viewpoints of Meg, a 12-year-old orphan, and Bertie, an adult woman, this book takes you on an emotional journey filled with friendship, grief, love, and the struggles of a society shaped by class, privilege, judgement, race, gender, and expectations.

What stood out to me was how every word felt carefully thought out and beautifully written. The characters felt real, and their stories stayed with me long after turning the final page.

Kathryn Stockett’s writing is truly special. The grief was heartbreaking, but the clever one-liners had me laughing too. She captured so many emotions perfectly, and this story completely captured my heart.

This book really does have it all — unforgettable characters, powerful themes, emotion, humour, and a story that will stay with me.

[Alannajoanne]

I wanted to love this book! The first half is excellent - rich writing, engaging story, and endearing, quirky characters. I was particularly drawn in by Meg’s character. But about halfway the book takes a turn. A new set of characters and situations are introduced; they feel over-the-top and unrealistic to the characters and story that was already built. The end solution to the two big problems is unbelievable and stretched. I was so disappointed and frustrated. The second half feels like a waste of such a good beginning.

[JanB]

3.5 stars

It’s 1933 in Oxford Mississippi. Narrated by two characters, Birdie and Meg, the main cast of characters include:

- Meg, an 11 year old girl who lives in an orphanage and considered one of the unadoptable big girls. She’s treated badly but works hard to maintain her bright spirit. I loved her and her story.
- Birdie, considered an “old maid” at 24, arrives in Oxford to ask her sister, Frannie, who married into a wealthy family, for money so she and her mother can pay their taxes and keep their family home. Birdie’s observations about life and her humor were a delight.
- Frannie is a difficult character to like, but as Birdie discovers, her life is far from as it appears on the surface, and things are about to implode
- Mrs Tart, Frannie’s widowed MIL, who has lived a genteel life but will soon need to confront the truth and find a way to survive tough times
- Charlie, a woman down on her luck but whose one mission to find her daughter is her driving force

It’s the Depression, times are tough for everyone, but especially tough for women who are alone in the world. There was no safety net for them, no where to turn. Instead they must rely on their grit and determination to do what it takes, or lose everything.

I loved the theme of strong resilient women even if I couldn’t get on board with HOW they survived tough times.

The author excels at writing well-developed characters, ones you care about deeply. She doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects in our history’s past: the abysmal treatment of orphans, homosexuality, forced sterilization, women’s rights, alcoholism, sex workers, and more.

In fact, I think less is more, and in my view the author perhaps tried to do too much for one book.

And the length of this book! At 656 pages, 250 pages could be cut and the book made better by it. Especially in the beginning, the pages and pages and pages of unnecessary detailed dialogue made it a slog and I considered dnf’ing.

When the plot took a surprising turn around 60%, new characters were introduced and way too much time was spent describing it all in sordid detail.

There’s a great book somewhere among all those pages. Few books are worthy of this length and this isn’t one of them. It was in desperate need of an editor.

For that reason alone I’m giving it 3.5 stars, which, by the way, means I liked it, but there were issues that prevented me from granting it a full 4 stars.

I had this book on my kindle and the audio, and found I much preferred the audio. When I tried to read it I had to fight the urge to skim because I was bored. January LaVoy is one of my very favorite narrators and she excelled, as usual. Her narration brought Birdie to life, and it helped that I could do other things as I listened. Plus I listened at x1.5 - 1.75, depending on which character was narrating, which helped me get through this 29 hour audio.

[Emily May]

I said in my review of The Bee Sting that the only books that should be 650 pages are ones that have lots of plot, which is why this doorstopper works. It avoids feeling its length by providing near-constant twists and turns of adversity and comeback.

Back in the day, I was never a big fan of The Help. I know it came from a good place, but I balk a little at the rewriting of history to centre white allies against racism. I can see the value in depicting white people taking a stand against racism, but we also run the risk of whitewashing history when we place white saviours where there were none. For this reason, I preferred the film, where Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer’s dazzling performances kept Skeeter from hogging the emotional centre that should have stayed with the Black women.

I say all this because I think perhaps Stockett took the feedback on board with this novel. While she portrays a diverse cast, she writes from the perspective of two white people— Birdie and Meg —and stays more in her own lane.

There's a lot covered in this plotty pageturner. We begin with Meg living in an orphanage after her mother never came home on Christmas Eve. She lives under the cruelty of Garnett— a bitter woman, active in the Anti-Vice League, who seems to have a particular hatred for Meg. More than anything, Meg wants her mother to come back, but her second best option is to be adopted by a kind family, something which Garnett seems determined to stand in the way of. This whole episode of the story reminded me of one of my most loved (and sobbed over) childhood films: A Little Princess.

Then Birdie comes into Meg's life when she volunteers at The Orphan. This meeting is relatively brief, but it will shape the rest of the story and lead Birdie down a path she never expected when she went to stay with her sister to ask for a loan.

From the devastation caused by the 1929 financial crash, to gay conversion therapy, to prostitution, to section 213 of the 1932 Economy Act that effectively ousted married women from their jobs, to forced sterilization and eugenics, The Calamity Club barely takes a breath. I can't deny its compelling.

Stockett also does a great job of developing her large cast of characters, with even minor characters being fleshed-out and memorable. Just when I was furious at a character, Stockett would put a new spin on it and I’d end up pitying them. Garnett the notable exception.

There were lots of fiery female characters here, heroes and villains alike, while the male characters were characterised by weakness and failure. I actually think one very interesting theme came through with this: the pressure on men to provide and how they crumbled under it. If a person's worth is tied to their financial provision, it is no wonder they suffer in times of economic crash. Many books that centre women are about girl power, and there's no shortage of that in this book, but I also think there's genuine sympathy for the struggling men here.

A deliciously soapy yarn with some necessary content warnings: ableism, racism, alcoholism, rape (off-page), child abuse, gay conversion therapy, suicide.

[Di]

I am so sorry that I have finished this book. It is over 600 pages long and I wish it would never end. It is set in the Deep South, Oxford, Mississippi, in 1933. Times are very hard during the Great Depression.

The story has three main characters. Birdie is the older and plainer of the two sisters. She travels to visit her younger ( prettier, important fact) sister to ask for money to help the family. Meg is an 11 year old girl wasting away and being mistreated in an orphanage. Charlie is Meg’s mother who was forced to abandon Meg because of the harsh and brutal laws of the era.

There are two storylines which are separate but connected.

The 1930s were a terrible decade. The depression created desperate situations for many people. Prohibition had not been repealed, there were no jobs, people were willing to resort to anything to make enough to support themselves and their families. And, life was very much different for women.

Besides the three main characters, there are many interesting and well developed personalities present. The ingenuity, the strength, the resilience that people demonstrated was amazing. Conversely, there were also mean characters (bordering on evil) to balance out the cast.

I don’t have the words or ability to describe how much I enjoyed this book. It is funny, it is sad, it is interesting, it is intense. It’s one of the longest books I’ve read in many years but it held my attention the whole time. It has been 17 years since the author released her first book, The Help. Well worth the wait. I hope we don’t have to wait as long for the next masterpiece.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

[Shelley's Book Nook]

My Reviews Can Also Be Found On:
The Book Review Crew Blog


⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Calamity Club
Kathryn Stockett
Publication Date: May 5th, 2026
Penguin Random House Canada | Doubleday Canada
656 Pages
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Genre: General Fiction | New Adult | Women's Fiction

This is the type of historical fiction I enjoy most. It's set in 1933, in Mississippi, during the Great Depression. It's about a group of strong women from very different backgrounds. The story is very character-driven, and we get their alternating points of view. Birdie is an "old maid" who goes to Oxford to ask her uppity sister for financial help to pay the taxes on their family home. It doesn't take long for Birdie to figure out her sister's life is nothing but lies. Meg is an eleven-year-old orphan who is very bright but has been treated very badly by the director of the orphanage. Charlie is a woman who feels like she has nothing left to lose. When Birdie meets Charlie, a sort of sisterhood develops with Meg and some of the other townswomen. They want to take back their lives and gain some control again.

I love the entertaining way Stockett deals with heavy social issues. There is a way about her writing that is very atmospheric and emotional, with lots of tension. The women in her stories always have a sense of themselves and are simply trying to get by and get justice. They're poor but have resilience. Again, she shows how Southern society and its politeness is all for show. We get to see the stigma of divorce, homosexuality, and what it means to be an "immoral" woman. Stockett doesn't shy away from the horrific treatment of orphans and women in this one.

The book is over 650 pages long, and I know that seems like a lot to most readers (The Help wasn't a short book at 522 pages), but I devoured it. It is a much slower pace than Stockett's debut, but the characters make it all worthwhile and unforgettable. I felt so much while reading this; I laughed, I teared up, and was oh so very angry. 1930s Mississippi is written about in such great detail that I could feel the humidity and the tension of Oxford. This was worth the seventeen-year wait. Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Goodreads ratings reflect reader demographics and
popular enthusiasm rather than objective literary merit.

[Delaney]

Phenomenal

[Teres]

At 600+ pages, The Calamity Club is a commitment. But, boy, was I sad when it came to an end.

In this long-awaited follow-up to The Help, Kathryn Stockett plunges us into the sweltering Mississippi Delta of 1933.

The novel follows a plucky 11-year-old orphan and a resourceful spinster doing whatever it takes to survive the Great Depression.

Both yearn for family and find it in unexpected places: one devises an ingenious plan to open a dance club (read: underground brothel), while the other proves resilient even under the most trying circumstances.

Funnier than you'd expect from a book that touches on forced sterilization, baby trafficking, and the casual cruelty of "good Christian women," you can bet The Calamity Club will get optioned for the screen.

And like The Help, the novel will no doubt grace many a book club reading list for years to come.

[Angela M]

4.5 stars
1933, Oxford Mississippi. Bearing the steamy heat and the burdens of the post depression, burdens that fall on them because life happens, we meet a cast of fully realized characters, the faces of strength and resilience in spite of it all. The story unfolds with alternating narratives of two of the main characters who took me into their hearts and souls from the minute I met them. Bright, precocious and funny, eleven year old Meg is an orphan at The Lafayette County Orphan Asylum. Her story of abandonment at nine, the physical and emotional abuse she suffers at the hands of the vile director of the orphanage was chilling. A ray of hope when her path crosses Birdie a smart, defiant, kind and also funny young woman trying to save her mamma and meemaw from dire circumstances and then her sister and her sister’s mother in law.

A winding plot with a lot of other characters covering multiple themes - the injustice and violation of sterilization against women deemed to be immoral and feeble minded, the horrible treatment of orphans, adultery, the stigma of homosexuality, alcoholism, the ties than bind families . I wanted to give this 5 stars since Kathryn Stockett does such an extraordinary job with characterization and I felt I knew all of these characters. However, I have to admit that this 650 + page book could have used some editing . One of the story threads at about the halfway point and beyond was just too drawn out. Having said that, there was not a time that I didn’t want to pick it up to know what happens to Meg and Birdie and others. Fifteen years after her first novel The Help, I found it worth the wait in spite of the drawn out middle .

I received a copy of this book from Spiegal and Grau through Edelweiss.

[Katie]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5/5, historical fiction)

This book was a DOOZY! It had been languishing on my TBR shelf for weeks, and I decided enough was enough! I was not going to let the size of this book intimidate me any longer! Even though it’s 600+ pages, the story is so engrossing that it flies by.

It did take me a bit to get into this. We alternate between two different POVs, and you kind of have to get into the rhythm of the time period, the dialect, and how the story is told. But once I found my groove, I couldn’t think about anything but this book!

This is the story of Oxford, Mississippi, in 1933. We follow 11-year-old Meg, an “unadoptable” girl at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, and Birdie, an unmarried out-of-towner who is in town to visit her sister. I’ll leave it there!! It’s really a story of female resilience and resistance!

Yes, it’s long, but I really feel like it HAS to be. The writing totally transports you to the time period. It was so vivid, and the level of detail felt so well researched and imperative to the story. This book does fill you with a constant rage!! Every horrifying fact I learned led me down a wild rabbit hole! The subject matter is heavy and, at times, very hard to read, but I really loved this book!!

[Jill]

I enjoyed The Help, so was pleasantly surprised when I opened my Libby app a couple weeks ago to see that the newly released Calamity Club had just been added to my local library with no wait! Score! At first I thought I misread the audiobook time ("approx 29 hours"?!)... but no. Twenty. Nine. Hours.

To clarify, I have no problem with big books. I like big books, and I cannot lie. You other brothers can't deny.

The Calamity Club absolutely, positively did not need to be 29 hours/600+ pages. The word "bloated" seems to fit best. As many other reviewers have already mentioned, there are pages and pages of unnecessary dialogue and descriptions.

For example, a conversation between two characters might go something like:

"Sister, you cannot spend any money."
"But I want to buy a new dress."
"We do not have money for you to buy a new dress."
"Okay, I'll get my hair done."
"You cannot get your hair done, we have no money."
"I'll go to the store to buy things."
"We have no money. Please do not go to the store."
"But the store has things, and I like things. I will go to the store."
"The store requires money, and we have no money."
"I guess I can go to the store later."
"No, the store will still require money later. Do not go to the store."
"How about when I go to the store, I take you with me. That will be fun!"
"We cannot go to the store, we do not have money."
"There must be a way for me to spend money, because I like spending money."
"But we cannot spend money, because we do not have money."


The story started strong (even if some of the characters were a little too "on-the-nose"), but completely lost its way. Whereas The Help kept the primary focus on slavery, CC decided to put allllllll the issues into this book: slavery, abortion, gay conversion therapy, alcoholism, forced sterilization, child abuse, religious abuse, prostitution, and suicide, to name a few. It just dissolved into a hot, unbelievable, unreadable mess - like a 29-hour "I Love Lucy" episode.

I didn't care about any of the characters, except Meg (and that was due primarily to the actress who read her part). The "twists and turns" were not surprising or interesting, and by the end (which was abrupt and unbelievable, even for a fictional story), I was listening at 2x speed, just to get it over with.

[Lottie Smalley]

5⭐️ WOW!!! one of the BEST audiobooks i’ve listened to all year! the dual narration and voice acting brought every character to life SO well and made such a long book feel surprisingly easy to get through!

i found the larger themes incredibly compelling and was fascinated by this part of our nation’s history because i really didn’t know much about it going in. it’s obviously not an “enjoyable” read in the sense that so much of what these victims are facing is incredibly difficult to think about, but it felt like important, need to know history delivered through a story i was completely invested in.

i especially appreciated how much humor, resilience, friendship, and found family existed alongside all of that hardship. you’ll get punched in the gut by something on one page and be chuckling over a witty reflection a few paragraphs later. it’s sad without ever feeling like one giant trauma dump, which I really appreciated. these women are finding strength in each other and refusing to let their circumstances suck every ounce of joy out of them!! 🥹 and MEG!!! so smart and clever and funny and absolutely bursting with personality. she gave me Matilda & Annie vibes in the best way. i loved her sooo much!

the book was a little long-winded for me at times, the pacing wasn’t absolutely perfect, and it took me about 120 pages to feel fully locked in, but once i was in… I WAS IN! i became super attached to these characters and already miss them! despite a few issues, still an incredibly easy 5 stars!!! ⭐️

[L A]

What a Southern book!!
"In 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, Prohibition is on the wane, and the Great Depression is tightening its grip. Poor and rich folks alike have fallen on hard times, even as the old social order remains. For women on the margins, the options are few and the price of dignity and self-determination is unbearably high."
"Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford on a mission to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind."
"If you give a girl a taste of fresh air and then take it away, she will grow fierce and wild to get that fresh air back again."
Each character has faced trials and tribulations in some form. The book brings out the resilience in people when they have had their comfortable way of life stripped away due to the Great Depression. Even the wealthy had to find new ways to survive. All their lives collide in one of the most unforgettable future classic novels. There are so many wonderful characters that are full fledged and believable. You must listen to the audio to fully enjoy their Southern accent...my accent....
I laughed aloud at their friendships. I worried about their sacrifices. I cringed over their decisions. I was embarrassed for their predicament, but all in all their courageousness overrides everything.
It is long.. On audible it is 28 hours and 44 minutes, but I sped it up. The narrators Jenna Lamia and January LaVoy did a great job with the accents and this is what makes this book.
I loved The Help and am so glad this one was released. There are some characters you love to hate, such as Garnett, the director of the Lafayette Co Orphan Asylum. She is an eyesore on the system for children like Meg that have no other choice but to live there after her mother Charlie abandoned her. When Charlie comes back into the story, she has quite the evidence of a corrupt system. Mrs. Tartt, I loved her character, but she is naive to the core. Then there is Frances who not only is naive, but ignorant and you can see why her sister Birdie wanted to smack her. Birdie and Meg are the ultimate bond and support for this fierce and funny novel.
Thank you NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for this amazing book in exchange for my honest review.

[ଘRory ( semi-hiatus)]

It is not unlikely that I do not like unlikely sisterhood.

[Karen]

4.5

Whew!!!
Finally finished this very long but entertaining novel.
Historical fiction… Oxford, Mississippi 1933
This was a very entertaining read with fantastic women characters.
If they make a movie with this one, as they did The Help..it will be very good!
It’s witty, bold, compassionate and at times heartbreaking.
The power of smart and hardworking women and what they can accomplish together is shown here, and I could picture these characters vividly!

[twinreadsandreds-Haley]

I LOVED THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH!!! I miss them already!!

[Dem]

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett got off to a cracking start. The author knows how to hook the reader and for the first hundred pages or so I was happily along for the ride convinced I was in for another 5 star read.

Unfortunately somewhere along the way the novel seems to develop an aversion to arriving at its destination. What began as an engaging story gradually became long and drawn out and I felt myself thinking this novel could have been 250 pages shorter without losing much of its impact.

The characters remained somewhat interesting although many of their choices needed suspending disbelief. By the time I reached the conclusion I wasn't entirely convinced by how everything was resolved. After such a lengthy journey I wanted an ending that felt inevitable, instead it felt like the author waving me towards the exit and assuring me everything would make sense if I didn't think too hard about it.

An easy summer read but not one for my favourite shelf.

[Ellery Adams]

Well worth the wait. This was a long book, but it never felt long. I loved the characters and felt very anxious for all of them. Would make such a powerful book club read because there are so many timeless topics included such as female empowerment, racism, conversion therapy, prohibition, sex workers, adoption, and poverty. I was fully immersed by the woman trying to navigate such a omcplex and divided southern landscape.

[Dorie - Cats&Books :)]

I have been ruminating on this review for a bit - I’m conflicted. This is a wonderful story that took me quite some time to get through. At 656 pages there were times where I felt that more editing would have been helpful - about midway through the story lagged a bit for me.

PROS:

*This can really be considered historical fiction and family drama. Set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi - poor and rich alike are suffering through depression.

*A great example of what women, when banded together, can accomplish. With different backgrounds the characters help each other make a living - IN WHATEVER WAY THEY CAN!!

*I liked the atmosphere of the small community that Birdie comes from which is in a poor farming area. Oxford is a small city with a collection of some wealthy homeowners and the help that they hire for upkeep and housework.

*The characters were great and the novel is told from two points of view. Birdie who goes to Oxford to see her sister, Frances, who has married into a wealthy family. All is not what she expected to find. She is hoping that Frances will loan her family money as they are struggling.

Meg LeFleur is an orphaned girl living in a horrible orphanage where she is considered unadoptable because she is one of the “older girls”. Her POV is both difficult to read at times but shows what great grit and intelligence she has.

CONS:

*The book is very long at almost 700 pages. There were times the story grew repetitive.

*The ending felt abrupt and I wanted more.

This is a good story with some wonderful writing. I think fans of Ms. Stockett will love this one! Her characters are, as always, very unique, interesting, at times funny and you will find yourself rooting for them!

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

[Chrisann]

I have been waiting for this author’s second book ever since I closed The Help about two decades ago. That book is one of my all-time favorites, and Skeeter is my most favorite book character of all time. So I was excited to get an early copy of this. Sadly, I do not recommend this book. I wish I could get all the hours I spent reading this back. I was really interested from the beginning and it wasn’t slow…until about the last 1/3. The book took a COMPLETELY unnecessary turn that was really unfortunate. At that point, in a nearly 700-page book, I wanted to see what happened. I knew there was next to no chance of redemption, but I finished it anyways. Ugh. I understand that these things likely happened because people were desperate, but…

***mild spoiler***

I am not typically a spoiler type of person, but I wish I would’ve known these ladies were going to open a brothel to save themselves. It was really disgusting and made for an unpleasant read. I just cannot recommend this. I’m sad I spent time reading this. It was way too long as well.

[Krickette]

It has almost been two decades since I first read The Help written by Kathryn Stockett and fell in love with her ability to capture my heart with her magical storytelling skills. It was a book I absolutely adored! So… when I received an ARC-kindle version of her second novel, The Calamity Club (thank you so much NetGalley) I was completely over the moon!🌙

Like her debut novel, The Calamity Club shows off Kathryn Stockett’s conversational writing style which allows her words to be the threads that weave a story of survival, loyalty, heartbreak, friendship, resilience and love.

The Calamity Club is a historical fiction novel set in the heart of Mississippi in the early 1930’s and follows several very strong and “against all odds” female characters. These characters are complicated, oozing with depth, courage and determination.

Knee deep in the mucky-ness of the Great Depression we are introduced to these female stand outs:

🌸Birdie (an upfront, tell it like it is, resourceful and deeply real 24 year old unwed woman) FAV!
🌺Meg (an ever-so-clever, sassy as they come, smart and wise beyond her years 11 year old orphan) FAV!
🌸Francis (Birdie’s social ladder climbing, self centered and conceited sister who is married to a man who sleeps in his own room)
And last but not least ….
🌺Mrs. Tartt (a wise, witty, and quite sophisticated-but tender hearted- older widowed woman (also mother-in-law to Francis)).
….Later, in the second half of this sorted story, additional female characters come into play and help keep the rhythm of the story moving (Charlie and Flossy are at the top, with several others to follow).

Told from two POVS and alternating storylines, this story and the collision of circumstances will surprise you (the twists.. and character development are shocking).

While this story was deeply layered, and filled with remarkable characters, hardship, social judgements, and an unlikely sisterhood, it did prove to be quite wordy at times—-with long enough chapters 😬and details that could have been fine tuned. Although super long-I did continue on🤪(an overall story that was well over 650 pages) and when I finally read the last page, I was happy that I read this perfectly imperfect novel.

This book was filled with all the things, yes verbose, but well worth the read. A part of history I feel gets a bit overlooked and an era that required much resilience, candor and commitment in order to land on your feet! Great second book for Kathryn Stockett! 4⭐️s.

I want to thank NetGalley and publishers for this eARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.

[Lisa of Troy]

Strong elements which didn’t ultimately sizzle

The Calamity Club is set in 1933 Mississippi in the depths of The Great Depression. This book centers on three female characters – Birdie, Charlie, and Meg – who are down on their luck.

The tropes in this book are not original, so the fate of this book rested in the characters and storytelling.

The Calamity Club started off strong with highly readable prose, but Stockett ended up bringing in too many characters to properly develop. Also, the book tackled a plethora of topics all at once (particularly a certain plot device about Esmeralda seemed to be haphazardly thrown in), and a few passages needed to be cut entirely.

This is a discursive novel, and it needed a big whopping dose of realism. The ending is entirely boring and not memorable.

The Calamity Club reads like a draft, and it could have used an extra round of polishing.

Where is the spectacular?

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $32.49 on Pango
Audiobook – Free through Libby

Connect With Me!
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[Sharon_🌺]

Kathryn Stockett has done it again!
I hope we don’t have as long a wait (as between The Help and The Calamity Club), for her next novel.
Waiting is so hard to do!🤭

🌺 Read what you love! 🌺

[Karen]

To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book if it hadn’t been donated to my Little Free Library Shed. But it was difficult to ignore. I enjoyed the author’s “The Help,” and this is her first novel in 17 years, since that bestseller became a global phenomenon.

It wasn’t the premise that gave me pause. I have been reading a great deal about injustice in our world—and, unfortunately, we are witnessing many injustices quite clearly in the United States today under the current administration.

It was the 634 pages that felt daunting. Still, I chose to read it and take my time.

Set in 1930s Mississippi during the Great Depression, the story explores the ways poverty, sexism, class, and institutional power shaped—and often destroyed—the lives of women.

Three women from vastly different socioeconomic backgrounds eventually find their lives intersecting: Birdie, a 24-year-old unmarried bookkeeper struggling financially; Meg, an intelligent 11-year-old abandoned in an asylum for girls; and Charlie, a resourceful woman down on her luck and determined to survive.

As the story unfolds, we see how thoroughly these women have been failed by the legal, marital, economic, and institutional systems of their time. Their choices are limited simply because they are women, and poverty, abandonment, and male authority often have devastating consequences. Yet their ingenuity eventually leads to the creation of the “Calamity Club,” offering the possibility of a way out of poverty.

The book also confronts the patriarchal restrictions placed on women and the disturbing influence of the eugenics movement.

In her author’s note, the author explains that the idea for the novel began with a 1928 Mississippi law allowing the sterilization of people deemed to be “imbeciles.” An all-male board was given the power to determine who fell under that definition, with devastating consequences for disabled people and women.

The historical injustices are among the strongest aspects of the novel. The author does an admirable job immersing readers in the time and place—the oppressive weather, social divisions, and circumstances that left so many women with little control over their own lives.

However, this is a substantial, slow-burn read. The heaviness of the beginning and middle, combined with its deliberate slow pace, may make it feel as though it drags for some readers. Could the same powerful story have been told in fewer pages? For this reader, yes.

Still, for readers willing to settle into its story, there is much to consider about the injustices these women faced—and the strength and ingenuity they found in their efforts to survive.

🌟🌟🌟.5 Stars

“The Help” Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[The Belladonna]

“This slapped-together band of misfits made me feel, for the first time, that I truly belonged. How the hell, I wondered, did I ever get so lucky?”

Kathryn Stockett returns with a sprawling 641-page historical drama set in 1933 Oxford, Mississippi, seventeen years after her blockbuster debut, The Help.

The Calamity Club is a rich, soul-stirring journey and an engrossing, big-hearted read set during the Great Depression. The novel shifts points of view between young Meg at the grim Lafayette County Orphan Asylum and Birdie, who visits town to hit up her status-seeking sister for money. When Birdie meets a scrappy woman named Charlie, the duo devises a bold, daring scheme to secure their futures and protect their loved ones.

For me, both of Stockett's reads were 5 stars. I adored The Help as well, and I look forward to what she delivers next. There has been talk about the dragginess in the middle. Yes, but honestly, Goodreads, I find that most Historical Fiction books tend to be. I just roll with it, it doesn't bother me enough where it takes away from the story. It has also been said that the story gets a little too far-fetched. This makes me laugh. That is why we read, ladies and gentlemen, because in books anything can happen. My absolute favorite series is the Harry Potter books & movies, super far-fetched! And they bring me immense joy every time I read or watch them.

In the book, Stockett references a real historical eugenics statute in Mississippi, the 1928 Sterilization Act, aka the "Mississippi Appendectomy." The Sterilization Act was enacted in 1928 by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. Supported by influential social groups, the Act aimed to address social problems by preventing the transmission of undesirable personality traits to offspring. It allowed for the sterilization of mentally disabled people. At that time, eugenicists argued that mental illness, mental retardation, epilepsy, alcoholism, destitution, criminal behaviors, and social deficits such as prostitution and sexual perversion were genetically determined and inherited. Their ideology maintained that elevated fertility rates among individuals with these conditions posed a systemic threat to population viability and civilizational progress. The Act was overturned in 1972.

This was a Buddy Read with my Goodreads bestie, Daniel Montague. Much love and thanks goes out to you, as always, I enjoyed your company and input. We picked a good one here, sharing this read with you was a pleasure!