In the Family Way: The uplifting and conversation-starting new book club novel for 2026, perfect for fans of The Help or Lessons in Chemistry

'THIS WARM TALE OF FRIENDSHIP HAS A WONDERFUL CAST OF CHARACTERS THAT YOU WILL ROOT FOR. AN UPLIFTING READ.' PLATINUM BOOK OF THE MONTH

A warm, uplifting and empowering novel following a group of suburban housewives and the pregnant teenager they welcome into their fold as they find their place on the cusp of liberation. For fans of Lessons in Chemistry or The Help.

*****

Ohio, 1965. Every week a group of suburban housewives meet for their Tuesday card game, sharing gossip, advice and confidences.

Lily Berg has the perfect life. She’s married to a doctor, with an infant daughter and another on the way. She can’t let her husband know she’s struggling but she knows she can trust her friends. Becca, Lily’s best friend and next-door neighbour, is everything Lily isn’t. She’s messy and brash and never on time for anything. When she falls pregnant with a fourth child she desperately can’t afford, she turns to Lily. Although Lily’s little sister, Rose, got married last year, she’s not ready to give up her independence. Her modern marriage appears to be perfect, but behind closed doors things are very different. And Betsy is fifteen, pregnant and frightened. When Lily takes her in, from the local home for unwed mothers, she has no idea how much it will shake up all of their lives.

Over six months, the group will be put to the test by secrets, forced to make impossible decisions and face up to a society that isn’t ready for women to have their own dreams and ambitions.

Set against the backdrop of 1960s America, In the Family Way is a timely novel that captures the experiences of women on the cusp of liberation as they grapple with timeless questions of womanhood and the role we play as wives, mothers, and people in our own right.

*****

'Bursts with complexity, drama and warmth… A timely, timeless novel' Catherine Newman, author of Sandwich

'A powerful tale, well told… [with] a delightful cast of characters that you can't help but fall in love with' Fiona Davis, author of The Stolen Queen

'A poignant, rich, deeply textured tale of women, friendship and struggles amid 1960s suburbia on the precipice of change' Lisa Barr, author of Woman on Fire

'Delightful and inspiring' Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Postmistress of Paris

'The women in these pages – feisty, fierce, and fragile – offer a peek behind the curtain of the precariousness of women's rights and womanhood itself' Christine Pride, co-author of We Are Not Like Them