In the Family Way

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A book club novel in the vein of Lessons in Chemistry about the friendship between a group of suburban housewives and a teenage unwed mother as they navigate their pregnancies both wanted and unwanted in a time when abortion is illegal and before the women's movement has taken flight.

1965, Ohio.

At Raven House, teenage girls who have found themselves in the family way are partnered with suburban families to hide out and help out until their due date. Once their babies are given up for adoption, they agree to never speak to their host families again.

Fifteen-year-old Betsy Ann Eubanks had no idea that what she was doing could lead to a baby. Thankfully Mrs Berg a perfect housewife and loving mother to a seventeen-month-old with another on the way is happy to welcome her into her family and teach her about her body and how a woman is supposed to behave.

But the life of Lily Berg and her friends isnt the idyll Betsy imagines. Theres Lilys best friend, pregnant with a fourth child she desperately cant afford; her neighbour who wants a baby more than anything but cant seem to make them stick; and her sister, Rose, who is going to discover that her perfect husband is anything but.

In the Family Way is a powerful novel that grapples with perennial questions of womanhood the role we play as wives, mothers, and people in our own right in a time before feminism took flight.

Reviews

'Bursts with the complexity, drama, and warmth of Call the Midwife, but set at the canasta and kitchen tables of 1960s suburban America. This timely, timeless novel captures not only the reproductive horrors of that era but also political awakening and a kind of nostalgic hope' Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich

'Chock full of eye-opening reminders of how far women have come since the days when subversive texts like The Feminine Mystique were passed around like contraband. Set in the 1960s, the novel features a delightful cast of characters that you cant help but fall in love with, and the books themes of female autonomy and reproductive freedom are just as potent today, if not more so' Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen

Author Bio

Laney Katz Becker is an award-winning author and writer. Her debut novel, Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend was a Literary Guild alternate selection, recommended by Library Journal, selected by Redbook Magazine as Editors' Favorite Pick for Fall, a Traditions Book Club selection and featured on CBS' Saturday Early Show. Laney is also the author of the non-fiction anthology, Three Times Chai, a collection of rabbis' favorite stories. Her writing career also includes working as an award-winning advertising copywriter, freelance journalist and, most recently, for more than a decade, as a literary agent. When she's not writing, Laney enjoys drawing, sewing, reading, and playing canasta.