The Wrong Kind of Woman, Sarah McCraw Crow
The Wrong Kind of Woman, Sarah McCraw Crow
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The Wrong Kind of Woman
A Novel

Author: Sarah McCraw Crow

Narrator: Andi Arndt

Unabridged: 8 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/06/2020


Synopsis

“A glorious debut filled with characters grasping to find a place to belong in a world on the edge of change.” —Carol Rifka Brunt, New York Times bestselling author of Tell the Wolves I’m Home

“McCraw Crow deftly navigates the campus and national politics of the ’70s in a way that remains timely and pressing today. A powerful, thought-provoking debut.” —Amy Meyerson, Nationally bestselling author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays

A powerful exploration of what a woman can be when what she should be is no longer an option

In late 1970, Oliver Desmarais drops dead in his front yard while hanging Christmas lights. In the year that follows, his widow, Virginia, struggles to find her place on the campus of the elite New Hampshire men’s college where Oliver was a professor. While Virginia had always shared her husband’s prejudices against the four outspoken, never-married women on the faculty—dubbed the Gang of Four by their male counterparts—she now finds herself depending on them, even joining their work to bring the women’s movement to Clarendon College.

Soon, though, reports of violent protests across the country reach this sleepy New England town, stirring tensions between the fraternal establishment of Clarendon and those calling for change. As authorities attempt to tamp down “radical elements,” Virginia must decide whether she’s willing to put herself and her family at risk for a cause that had never felt like her own.

Told through alternating perspectives, The Wrong Kind of Woman is an engrossing story about finding the strength to forge new paths, beautifully woven against the rapid changes of the early ’70s.

About Sarah McCraw Crow

Sarah McCraw Crow is the author of The Wrong Kind of Woman. When it comes to fiction writing (and reading), Sarah is obsessed with women's lives and the drama of family life. She also loves the Seventies. She's a graduate of Dartmouth College, Stanford University, and Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she's the mom of three young-adult kids. Sarah lives, writes, and gardens on an old farm in New Hampshire,  


Reviews

Goodreads review by Megan on July 15, 2020

When Virginia Desmarais’ husband drops dead, catapulting her into widowhood and single motherhood, she finds solace and new purpose in an unexpected place: a group of four outspoken, unmarried women on the faculty at the college where her husband worked. Virginia’s husband had prejudices against the......more

Goodreads review by Suzanne on November 14, 2020

Virginia Desmarais’ world is altered when her husband dies of a heart attack while stringing Christmas lights. It shocks Virginia and her daughter, Rebecca as they helplessly watch him collapsing on the front lawn. Virginia has devoted most of her life to raising her thirteen-year-old daughter while......more

Goodreads review by Erin on June 19, 2020

This book is beautifully written. The differing viewpoints helped the reader see how the events, choices, and reactions of the book impacted each character. As a woman, I still feel like lesser than my male counterparts. I think we have a lot to learn from this book. As a native New Englander, I can......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on November 19, 2020

Virginia watches as her husband collapses in the front yard while stringing Christmas lights, and her life is changed forever. With her husband gone, Virginia must find a job to support both herself and her daughter, no easy task in the 1970s when available jobs for women tended to be more mundane t......more

Goodreads review by Deborah on October 06, 2020

Sarah McCraw Crow’s novel transports the reader to the 1970’s at a fictional college similar to Dartmouth. The era is turbulent, both culturally and politically, much like America today. The parallels between now and then are uncanny: a sharply divided nation experiencing a tsunami of discord. Some......more