I’m in two minds about this book. On the one hand, the subject matter is super interesting, and I enjoyed learning about a piece of history I really knew nothing about previously. It’s written well, and the author clearly has a talent for telling a character’s inner monologue in a very real and compelling way.

On the other hand… very little happens for the first 80% of the book, and even then it’s a little underwhelming and easy to see coming. Most of the book is the MC Lois observing various situations, and while I felt a lot of sympathy for Lois, but I didn’t particularly like her, and found myself frustrated by her choices. In fact, there weren’t any characters I felt particularly drawn to, as most of the other girls at the ranch sort of ran together without much distinction. I can’t give the book any less than 3 stars, because the writing was genuinely beautiful, but I think maybe the slow burn storyline wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for the ARC.

"The Divorcees" by Rowan Beaird offers a captivating glimpse into the lives of women seeking liberation from stifling marriages in 1950s America. Set against the backdrop of Reno's infamous "divorce ranches," where residency could be established in six weeks to qualify for a divorce, the novel follows Lois Saunders as she navigates the tumultuous waters of love, friendship, and societal expectations.

Lois, trapped in a loveless marriage despite her picture-perfect husband, finds herself at the Golden Yarrow ranch, where she encounters a diverse group of women also seeking freedom. Among them is Greer Lang, a captivating and unconventional woman who challenges Lois to break free from the constraints of societal norms. As their friendship blossoms, Lois begins to question her own desires and ambitions, ultimately embarking on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment.

Beaird expertly explores themes of female agency and autonomy in a time when divorce was still taboo, weaving a compelling narrative that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. The historical backdrop adds depth and richness to the story, shedding light on the experiences of women during this era of social change.

While the novel's plot may veer into unexpected territory at times, Beaird's skillful storytelling and attention to detail keep readers engaged until the satisfying conclusion. The exploration of Lois's evolving relationships and the challenges she faces along the way resonates with authenticity and emotional depth.

Overall, "The Divorcees" is a compelling read that offers insight into the struggles and triumphs of women seeking independence in a society that often seeks to confine them. With its engaging characters, evocative setting, and themes of empowerment, it's a novel that will linger in the minds of readers long after the final page.

As for my thoughts on the book, I found it to be an entertaining and informative read, albeit with some moments of confusion and disbelief. While the narrative may have lost some steam towards the end, the historical context and satisfying conclusion ultimately made it a worthwhile experience. I would recommend it to those interested in historical fiction and stories of female empowerment.

The divorcees follows our protagonist Lois sanders, a recent divorcee who embarks on a divorce ranch in Nevada, in which respectable women go in order to acquire a divorce. During her time there Lois confronts her loneliness, as well as her feelings of inadequacy amongst the other wealthy residents. Then, Greer Lang arrives, disrupting and exciting Lois’ life.

This was actually a very enjoyable listen. I enjoyed the characters and the representation of Lois’ feelings of exclusion and not fitting in - it really captured that well. I also found particularly fascinating the regulations required in order to attain a divorce in the 1950s, it was v illuminating.

However, I would say as the story progressed I felt myself pull from it slightly. I still found it interesting but can’t help but feeling it could’ve been shorter?

I really enjoyed the listening experience. I feel like the narrator really captured each character and made it a really great experience

I really enjoyed this! The narration was wonderful and the tension simmered so slowly at first before it began to ramp up and come to a head. An intriguing thriller about love, obsession, and identity amongst a group of soon to be divorced women.

I enjoyed listening to The Divorcees by Rowan Beaird, expertly narrated by Bailey Carr.

In the 1950s Reno was billed itself as the “Divorce capital of the world”. It really became an industry and women from across the United States of America travelled there to establish residency and then get a quick no questions asked divorce.

This book centres on Lois Saunders travelling across America to the Golden Yarrow Ranch in Reno, Nevada and her time there. The ranch has around a dozen women waiting out their six week residency requirement. They are a transient group and friendships are formed as they ride horses, swim in the pool, drink cocktails and go to the casinos at night. During Lois’s stay, Greer arrives at the ranch to wait out her residency and she forms a friendship with Lois. Lois hasn’t formed firm friendships with the other women and finds Greer fascinating. Greer and Lois form a firm friendship.

I found the backdrop of the book at a Reno divorce ranch fascinating. The expectations of women in the 1950s are so markedly different compared to now. I found the friendships formed at the ranch interesting. The women are there only for six weeks, and the women could be who they are or who they want to be.

I will most definitely look out for other books by Rowan Beaird in the future.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and to the publishers of the e-audiobook, Bonnier UK Audio, for making this ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was drawn to this book by its beautiful cover and I am so glad I was. I really enjoyed this and thought the author skillfully captured the place and time so vividly.
After a couple of years, Lois has realised her marriage was a mistake and Lois can't continue in her suffocating loveless state and makes the decision to leave before having a child as that will keep her there. In 1951 divorce wasn't easily accessible in the US unless you reside in Nevada and so Lois has to travel and stay in a "divorce ranch" for six weeks to meet the legal requirements to have her divorce granted.. While there she meets a number of other woman in the same situation. The divorce ranges offer a more elegant form of divorce and the woman can horse ride during the day and flirt with cowboys in the bars of Reno at nighttime.
When glamourous Greer arrives at the range, Lois is bewitched by her as she is not like anyone she has known before and soon the two strike up a friendship and Lois begins to plan for her future.

I really liked this. I loved the pace and reading about this time. The characters aren't always likeable but they are so well captured , I was fully drawn into their lives. This is a really well written exploration of female friendship and dynamics and of personal freedom and choice. A beguiling and fascinating read. Recommend.


I really enjoyed the narration also, such a soothing voice.

I'm not normally a fan of the "naive woman" trope but this was done well with a protagonist who is not a complete idiot but just not as smart as she thinks and who has been brought up on movies that she confuses with reality.

I listened to an audio ARC which was beautifully read by Bailey Carr. In fact the narration was probably the best bit.

The book itself felt like a bit of a letdown. I've been a huge fan of The Women (original film) (despite the rather saccharine ending for Mary Haines) so when I started The Divorcees I was delighted that it was so similar. Set at a ranch Reno where women waiting for divorces would go because otherwise it would be a long haul to get rid of the unsuitable men in their lives.

Our protagonist, Lois, has found that marriage was simply ownership by a different man other than her strict father. Realising that marriage is not for her she heads to Reno to get a quicky divorce but at the Golden Yarrow Ranch she realises that all her insecurities have come with her and her propensity for lying is soon discovered, turning the other women against her. The only one who is still her friend is the enigmatic Greer, who forces Lois into increasingly dangerous dares that Lois does to impress the mysterious woman.

It's a good premise but the outcome is disappointing. I thought, for a woman who spent her life at the movies that she'd cotton on to other people's motives a lot quicker. However the character of Lois just ended up making me feel quite irritated - especially at the end.

All in all, a good start but the ending did not live up to early promise. An okay book which was extremely well narrated. It would make a good holiday read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier UK Audio for the advance review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Roman Beaird for an ARC audio book of this title.

I really enjoyed listening to The Divorcees. I felt immersed into the 1950s as the scene setting and atmosphere set by the narrator were both culturally and contextually rich.

The characters all escaping unhappy marriages were well built and the plot was also a slow burn I felt invested in. A bit of mystery and toxic friendship thrown in to really bring it to life too. I could imagine really enjoying this on the beach with a cocktail!

One critique only of the audio production itself would be that the pause between chapters was sometimes so long I thought it had stopped!

DNF 20%. That was booooooring, I was SO uninterested and my brain couldn’t focus on the words the narrator was saying because of how uninterested I was.

I downloaded the audioARC of this novel via NetGalley because I was intrigued by the concept of divorce ranches, where women with some wealth could spend the six weeks residency they needed to file for divorce successfully in Nevada.

Told in third person, we nonetheless see most of the action close to Lois, whose husband has never hit her but has indulged in what we would nowadays classify as coercive control. Her father is clearly also a horrible man, who has said she can stay with him post-divorce for six months, which should be long enough to find a new husband!

This debut novel by Rowan Beaird plays well with Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, in which we similarly see 1950s women living for a short while outside their everyday conventional lives.

Only one woman in The Divorcees seems to have total freedom, but she is living on the run from the law. Through her Lois gradually realises that although she doesn’t have the opportunities a man does, she can take some steps towards autonomy and control.

We are left, I think, with a little bit of hope for Lois, even though she has had to turn her back on her middle class life.

Really enjoyed this novel. Felt I learned a lot without being lectured, which is always good.

The premise of this novel was really interesting and I was excited to read about a phenomenon in women's history which I hadn't heard of before. Lois arrives at the Golden Yarrow in Nevada where she must wait out the next six weeks, after which she will be able to apply for a divorce, hence the nickname for these residencies - "divorce ranches". Life is slow at the ranch, and the pace of this novels reflects that.

Set in the 1950s, when divorce was still incredibly taboo, these women have a rare opportunity to discuss their common experience whilst at the ranch. Sadly, that doesn't really happen and I didn't feel I got to know any of the characters very well. Our main character shows agency in asking for a divorce but it doesn't fit with her behaviour through the rest of the novel in which she is mostly passive and seems to lack an individual personality.

Around three quarters of the way in, the book started to get a bit more interesting when a mystery/crime element is introduced however the action itself is anticlimactic and afterwards doesn't seem to have much consequence.

The prose itself was pleasant and lends itself well to the style of the novel but ultimately the plot and character development are most important and this book just didn't deliver on those points.

I absolutely loved this tale; very different from my usual read and I became totally immersed in the setting and characters. I thought the premise was different and unusual. Set in early 1950s America, to obtain a divorce Nevada had a rule that required six weeks residency. The setting is a ranch, basically a boarding house for women applying for divorce, and it centres on Lois, one of the temporary residents. She’s escaped a loveless marriage to a rich husband only to have a future imprisoned with her father until she finds another husband. She’s from Chicago, a Polish immigrant background and nouveau riche.

However, although Lois is the main character, the author explores the back stories of the other women and those who run the ranch. It’s a compelling mix of individuals with all their foibles, airs and graces and prejudices. There’s sympathy, backbiting, nosiness, but overall an almost claustrophobic sense of how powerless and constrained they were. Although buying their way out of sometimes abusive relationships, there was little sense that they were going to learn and develop from their mistake.

The story takes a new turn when Greer arrives and bonds with Lois. It’s an intriguing friendship and well depicted. Then there’s the final twist which I didn’t see coming at all. I really enjoyed the narration. It has a slow, slightly laconic approach which suited the story and captured the characters well. There’s a real sense of drought and heat which adds to the cloying at of the tale. Kept me listening well into the night and finished in a coup,e of sessions.

"The Divorceés" by Rowan Beaird is a beautiful exploration of female friendship. The way the author delves into the dynamics of the characters' relationships is captivating. The novel also gives a fascinating insight into what divorce was like in the 1950s, shedding light on the social norms and challenges of that time.
The book is enriched by a whole host of complex characters, each with their own struggles and triumphs, making the story even more engaging. There’s also a MASSIVE plot twist that came out of no where but really added another layer of drama to the book that had me thinking back on the beginning of the story in a whole new light.

The Divorcées
by Rowan Beaird

A character driven novel set in 1951 Reno, Nevada following Lois, a 20 something woman who is jumping through the necessary hoops to attain a divorce.

The setting is evocative and the themes of feminist rage, the shame of divorce and the lack of power for women in those days are strong.

I found the writing to be over wrought, which I probably could have overlooked if I was reading, but this was an audio copy and I found the narrator so annoying. Every single sentence was imbued with so much melodrama. The simplest of things was performed in the tone of a natural disaster. It wore me out. Perhaps a newcomer to audiobooks would appreciate the over-emphasis, but to me there was no light and shade.

This should suit fans of Kristin Hannah or Jodi Picoult.

Publication date: 28th March 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #BonnierUK for the ALC

'The Divorcèes' is an obsessive read, not in the sense of being compelling or ravishing, but the tone is one of obsession. The novel follows the lives of several women who have (mostly) fled from home and their husbands as they come together at a divorce ranch. Some of the women are visibly sporting bruises to their faces, having fled from domestic abuse. This was an interesting read set in 1950s America. I found the obsession with Greer and Lois difficult at times as it alluded to wanting more of a relationship to develop. There was a lot of talk about what it means to be a woman, including a constant reminder of periods but, most importantly, looking out for other women. There were some brilliant moments in this book about unity and friendship, with a twist I did not see coming. This book was a little overhyped for me, but there were elements that I enjoyed.

Themes: women fiction, domestic abuse, friendship, divorce, separation, theft, and robbery.

The book is a slow one as per my liking and the author has taken sufficient time to pen down the characters of the book. The protagonist was marvelously drafted as the words express her scenarios perfectly and it lets the readers understand her more.
I had a great time listening to the audiobook.

Good narration!
I read another book with a similar setting/plot, but earlier in time, so The Divorcées made a good companion piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with Lois enough to really enjoy the story. I wish that this book has focused on a few women’s stories so we could get a variety of POVs in the backdrop of women seeking divorces in Nevada.

Living in Nevada for the required six weeks to get a Reno divorce in 1958, several divorcées get to know each other on a ranch, swimming, horseback riding, flirting with cowboys...and one of them has a strong pull on Lois, Thanks to NetGalley for the freebie, the audiobook was okay, but the pauses between chapters was too long.

A fairly slow paced but thoroughly immersive and entertaining historical fiction debut.

A chance to glimpse into the past where divorce was taboo and all but outlawed in sine states. We follow a group of women who travel ti Nevada for an “easy” divorce. Really enjoyed the writing and the narration The novel has Netflix series stamped all over it. And as the characters discussed who’d play them I found myself wondering the very same.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.