What Wild Women Do
A Novel
-
-
4.7 • 3 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
From the #1 internationally bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife comes a must-read book of the season.
A 1970s feminist facing the costs of loss and autonomy strives to create a better future for women at her Adirondack camp; meanwhile, an aspiring screenwriter makes a shocking discovery in the present that sets her on a course of rewriting her own story.
Rowan is stuck. Her dreams of becoming a screenwriter are stalled, along with her bank account, as she and her fiancé Seth try to make sense of what’s next for them after leaving LA. But when the couple takes a trip to a cabin in the Adirondacks, hoping the change will provide inspiration for Seth’s novel-in-progress, Rowan finds herself drawn into a story greater than her own—that of socialite-turned-feminist-crusader Eddie Calloway, who vanished one day in 1975 and was never found or heard from again. In a handbook left behind in the abandoned ruins of a once great camp, Rowan starts to discover clues to what happened to Eddie.
As Rowan delves deeper into the mystery, we meet Eddie herself, a fierce and loving woman whose greatest wish was to host women at her camp and unlock their “wildness.” However, Eddie’s wild ways aren’t welcomed by everyone, and rifts between camp owners threaten her mission. When Rowan gets closer to the truth of Eddie’s disappearance, she realizes that it may hold the key to unlocking her own ambition and future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Brown's solid latest (following Recipe for a Perfect Wife), a budding screenwriter leaves Los Angeles with her boyfriend for the Adirondack Mountains, where she encounters the ruins of a 1970s feminist camp. Thirty-year-old Rowan is trying to jump-start her career alongside Seth, who is trying to write the Great American Novel. After their service jobs dry up in L.A. during the pandemic, the couple decides to rent a cabin in the Adirondacks to work on their writing. But Seth is more interested in building their YouTube channel than writing his novel, and after Rowan accidentally posts a tell-all video after a night of drinking that says the channel portrays a glossied version of their lives, the relationship deteriorates. They meet a pair of ornithologists who tell them about Camp Callaway, a cabin retreat established by a wealthy family at the turn of the 20th century, which later became a feminist women's camp headed by Edith "Eddie" Callaway, who disappeared in 1975. While Seth is preoccupied with social media, Rowan vows to find out the truth behind Eddie's disappearance, which will change the course of her life. The story is told in dual timelines, and while Brown convincingly depicts Rowan's arc, the '70s sections following Eddie take a few chapters to get going and find a rhythm. Though familiar, this will satisfy readers looking for an entertaining mystery.
