In The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, Sarah Ramey shares her journey through chronic illness and the medical system’s blind spots she uncovered.

This week, we’re bringing forward a powerful 2022 conversation with Sarah Ramey, author of The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, whose novel was selected as a MomAdvice Book Club Book the year that this conversation was recorded.

This discussion remains as urgent and resonant today as when it first aired, offering an unflinching look at chronic illness, medical bias, and the stories women are too often forced to carry alone. In this episode, we also discuss the complexities of the mind-body connection, the role of privilege in accessing care, and the turning point that led Sarah toward healing through functional medicine.

Anne Patchett featured The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness in her “If You Haven’t Read This Book, It’s New to You” series for Parnassus Books. She described it as crackling, electrifying, funny, and fast-paced—a book that will outrage you and one you won’t be able to put down.  I co-sign this recommendation and am proud to pull this out from our studio vault as we celebrate this month’s book club book, The Mad Wife, and the ways women’s health has been so misunderstood.

In this spoiler-filled conversation:

• A deeply personal look at life before and after chronic illness: Sarah reflects on her “B.C.” life—before chronic illness—and what it means to lose, grieve, and reconstruct identity when your body no longer cooperates.
• Unpacking medical gaslighting and gender bias in healthcare: From being dismissed as “mentally ill” to navigating systemic disbelief, we explore why women’s pain is so often minimized—and what must change within the medical system.
• Listening to hundreds of women—and finding patterns in pain: Drawing from interviews with over 200 women, Sarah shares the common threads in their experiences, the emotional toll of carrying those stories, and how movements like #MeToo helped create space for this conversation.  

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s NEW companion list with 24 Medical Drama Books to Get Your Heart Racing, available to reserve now for your best weekend ever. Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness Book Summary

The darkly funny memoir of Sarah Ramey’s years-long battle with a mysterious illness that doctors thought was all in her head—but wasn’t. A revelation and an inspiration for millions of women whose legitimate health complaints are ignored.

In her harrowing, defiant, and unforgettable memoir, Sarah Ramey recounts the decade-long saga of how a seemingly minor illness in her senior year of college turned into a prolonged and elusive condition that destroyed her health but that doctors couldn’t diagnose or treat. Worse, as they failed to cure her, they hinted that her devastating symptoms were psychological.

The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness is a memoir with a mission: to help the millions of (mostly) women who suffer from unnamed or misunderstood conditions–autoimmune illnesses, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic Lyme disease, chronic pain, and many more. Ramey’s pursuit of a diagnosis and cure for her own mysterious illness becomes a page-turning medical mystery that reveals a new understanding of today’s chronic illnesses as ecological in nature, driven by modern changes to the basic foundations of health, from the quality of our sleep, diet, and social connections to the state of our microbiomes. Her book will open eyes, change lives, and, ultimately, change medicine.

Meet Sarah Ramey

Sarah Ramey is a writer and musician (known as Wolf Larsen) living in Tucson, Arizona. She received an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and was a blogger for President Obama’s 2008 campaign.

She is the recipient of a Whiting Foundation grant for nonfiction, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation residency grant, and has been featured in The Paris Review, NPR, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, Salon, Refinery 29, LitHub, and The Washingtonian. The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness was an Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Memoirs, it was a starred selection for Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist, and it was chosen as one of the best books of 2020 by BookPage.

Sarah has been living with serious chronic pain and illness for seventeen years, and The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness is her first book.

When It Is Not All In Your Head (The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness)

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

NEW BOOK LIST: 24 Medical Drama Books to Get Your Heart Racing

Join the March Book Club 3/26 at 8 PM ET (The Mad Wife)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

You With the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate

The Lady’s Handbook for Mysterious Illness by Sarah Ramey

Ann Patchett on The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness

Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn

Chronic Pain is Surprisingly Easy to Treat

Sarno

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

Katherine May

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Sarah Ramey on Instagram or Her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Author Meagan Church unpacks the hidden lives of women in her chilling novel, The Mad Wife, as we explore the history of hysteria in women’s health diagnoses.

If you loved Meagan Church’s historical fiction, you’ll be captivated by the bold turn she takes in The Mad Wife, her third novel. Rooted in the untold medical stories of women’s lives, this book lulls readers into the familiar rhythms of mid-century domesticity, before flipping the script with a shocking plot twist.

In our revealing conversation, we explore:

• Building a Vivid 1950s World – From S&H stamps to molded salads, how Meagan nailed the texture of the era, weaving ordinary domestic details into a setting that feels both authentic and unsettling.
• From History to Suspense – Why Meagan pivoted from a traditional historical fiction lens in her earlier novels to the creeping tension of domestic suspense, and how she made the genre shift feel authentic to her writing process. We discuss the bravery required for this project and how she felt haunted, both in real life and on the page, as she told Luella’s story.
• The Medical History of “Hysteria” – What her chilling research revealed about diagnoses like hysteria, prescriptions like Miltown, and procedures like lobotomy and ECT that shaped women’s lives in disturbing ways.

As a bonus for listeners, don’t miss this week’s companion list: Books With Good Plot Twists That Will Make Your Jaw Drop. Patrons will also receive today’s printable checklist to take on their next visit to the library.

Unmasking Hysteria in The Mad Wife with Author Meagan Church

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

UPDATED BOOK LIST: Books With Good Plot Twists

Join the October Book Club on 10/24 at 8 PM ET (Diavola by Jennifer Thorne)

The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church

The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church

The Mad Wife by Meagan Church

The Best Book Club Books to Spark Conversation

Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan

On Writing by Stephen King

Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild

Donut Dollies of Vietnam

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities

Megan’s Jello Instagram

How to Make Glow in the Dark JELL-O

Miltown

Mother’s Little Helper

Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Terah Shelton Harris

Episode Two: How Meagan Church Became a Beloved Bestseller

Bestselling author Meagan Church returns to discuss our March Book Club selection, The Mad Wife, and its whirlwind success.

This month, we welcome Meagan Church back to Book Gang to celebrate our March Reader’s Choice selection, The Mad Wife—the most-voted book by our community. Meagan first joined us earlier in her writing journey to discuss the inspiration behind this story. Now she returns following the novel’s breakout success, including appearances on the bestseller lists and recognition as a Barnes & Noble Fiction Pick.

In this follow-up conversation, we talk about how Life has changed since The Mad Wife reached readers around the country—from touring and meeting fans to seeing Lulu’s story resonate with audiences. We also take a lighter turn with a fun round of writer habits, reading life confessions, and quickfire questions designed to help listeners get to know Meagan beyond the page.

In this spoiler-free conversation with my friend, we explore:

• Celebrating a bestselling moment: Meagan reflects on The Mad Wife becoming a Barnes & Noble Fiction Pick and landing on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.
• Life after publication: From book tours to meeting readers face-to-face, Meagan shares how the response to Lulu’s story has shaped her perspective on storytelling and future projects.
• Getting to know the writer: In a fun closing segment, Meagan talks about her writing rituals, reading Life, favorite bookstores, and the habits that keep her creative process moving.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s NEW companion list with 24 Medical Drama Books to Get Your Heart Racing, available to reserve now for your best weekend ever. Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Gratitude to Our Show Patrons: This week’s episode is open to all listeners thanks to generous donations made through Buy Me a Coffee and your community memberships. If you’d like to keep the conversation going, you’re invited to join our Patreon Book Club chat on March 26th at 8 PM ET, where we’ll dive deeper into spoilers, themes, and reader reactions WITH MEAGAN. Membership is $5 a month, or you can prepay for the year and save 10%.

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

NEW BOOK LIST: 24 Medical Drama Books to Get Your Heart Racing

Join the March Book Club 3/26 at 8 PM ET (The Mad Wife)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

Unmasking Hysteria in The Mad Wife Podcast

Meagan’s spoiler episode

The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church

The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church

The Mad Wife by Meagan Church

Cleary Bookstore

The Mad Wife Spotify Playlist

Story Genius by Lisa Cron

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Everything is Spiritual by Rob Bell

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Orbital by Samatha Harvey

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

Hit the Road with Annie Hartnett Podcast

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

How Shark Heart Transformed Emily Habeck and Her Readers (Podcast)

Olivia Muenter – Such a Bad Influence Podcast 

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Parnassus Books

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect with Meagan Church on Instagram or her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

The Mad Wife Book Summary

From bestselling author Meagan Church comes a haunting exploration of identity, motherhood, and the suffocating grip of societal expectations that will leave you questioning the lives we build—and the lies we live.

They called it hysteria. She called it survival.

Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife. Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, she keeps her husband happy, her household running, and her gelatin salads the talk of the neighborhood. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu’s carefully crafted life begins to unravel.

When a new neighbor, Bitsy, moves in, Lulu suspects that something darker lurks behind the woman’s constant smile. As her fixation on Bitsy deepens, Lulu is drawn into a web of unsettling truths that threaten to expose the cracks in her own life. The more she uncovers about Bitsy, the more she questions everything she thought she knew—and soon, others begin questioning her sanity. But is Lulu truly losing her mind? Or is she on the verge of discovering a reality too terrifying to accept?

In the vein of The Bell Jar and The Hours, The Mad Wife weaves domestic drama with psychological suspense, so poignant and immersive, you won’t want to put it down. 

Meet Meagan Church

Meagan Church is the Southern indie bestselling author of The Girls We Sent Away, The Last Carolina Girl , and The Mad Wife, this month’s Barnes & Noble Book Club selection. She writes to tell grounded stories that explore the complexity of human nature. Her historical fiction chronicles the plight and fight of unheard voices of the past. After receiving a B.A. in English from Indiana University, Meagan built a career as a storyteller and freelance writer for brands, blogs, and organizations. She is an adjunct professor for Drexel University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, helping authors tell their own stories through editing, coaching, and workshops. A Midwesterner by birth, she now lives in North Carolina with her high school sweetheart, three children, and a plethora of pets.

Kate Schatz joins the show to discuss Where the Girls Were, a novel inspired by the hidden history of maternity homes and the young women sent away during the 1960s.

This week, Kate Schatz joins the Book Gang podcast to discuss her adult fiction debut, Where the Girls Were, a novel that explores a little-discussed chapter of American history: the maternity homes that housed more than a million young women during the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing inspiration from her own family’s haunting history and years of research, Schatz brings readers into the world of a teenage prodigy sent away to give birth in secret just weeks before graduating high school.

In our conversation, we discuss how the story first took shape, the transition from writing nonfiction about activism and history to crafting a deeply researched novel, and the realities of maternity homes in the mid-twentieth century. Schatz also shares some of the surprising details uncovered during her research.

In this fascinating conversation, we explore:

From Rad Women to Fiction: Kate shares her journey from bestselling nonfiction author and activist to novelist, revealing how writing Where the Girls Were challenged her craft and deepened her understanding of history, activism, and personal storytelling.

The Family Story Behind the Novel: Schatz shares how learning about her mother’s experience with pregnancy and closed adoption in the mid-20th century shaped the inspiration and research behind the book.

Uncovering Hidden Histories: We discuss the surprising and sometimes shocking research Kate unearthed about maternity homes, women’s health, and the realities faced by girls in the 1960s, including the curious role of rabbits in pregnancy tests.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s NEW companion list with 27 Books About the 1960s to escape into another timeline, available to reserve now for your best weekend ever. Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

Where the Girls Were Book Summary

They were sent away to be forgotten. This is their story.

It’s 1968, and the future is bright for seventeen-year-old Elizabeth “Baker” Phillips: She’s the valedictorian of her high school, with a place at Stanford in the fall and big dreams of becoming a journalist. But the seductive free-spirited San Francisco atmosphere seeps into her carefully planned, strait-laced life in the form of a hippie named Wiley. At first, letting loose and letting herself fall in love for the first time feels incredible. But then, everything changes.

Pregnancy hits Baker with the force of whiplash—in the blink of an eye, she goes from good girl to fallen woman, from her family’s shining star to their embarrassing secret. Without any other options, Baker is sent to a home for unwed mothers, and finds herself trapped in an old Victorian house packed with pregnant girls who share her shame and fear. As she grapples with her changing body, lack of choice, and uncertain future, Baker finds unexpected community and empowerment among the “girls who went away.”

Where the Girls Were is a timely unearthing of a little-known moment in American history, when the sexual revolution and feminist movement collided with the limits of reproductive rights—and society’s expectations of women. As Baker finds her strength and her voice, she shows us how to step into your power, even when the world is determined to keep you silent.

Meet Kate Schatz

KATE SCHATZ is a New York Times bestselling author, public speaker, writing teacher, and queer feminist parent who’s been talking, writing, and teaching about race, gender, social justice, and equity for many years. Her books include the novel Where the Girls Were; Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book, with W. Kamau Bell, the comedian and Emmy-winning host of CNN’s United Shades of America; the “Rad Women” book series (including Rad American Women A-Z, Rad Women Worldwide, and Rad American History A-Z), which have sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into four languages; and Rid of Me: A Story, published in 2007 as part of the cult-favorite 33 ⅓ series.

Kate has taught writing and Women’s Studies at Brown University, Rhode Island College, San Jose State, and UC Santa Cruz. Born and raised in San Jose, California, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife, their three kids, and their many pets. Where the Girls Were is her fiction debut and is available on store shelves now.

Where the Girls Were Brings a Mother’s Haunting Story to Light

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

NEW BOOK LIST: 27 Books About the 1960s

Join the March Book Club 3/26 at 8 PM ET (The Mad Wife)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

Where the Girls Were by Kate Schatz

Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book by  W. Kamau Bell & Kate Schatz

Rad American Women by Kate Schatz

Rad Women Worldwide by Kate Schatz

Rad Girls Can by Kate Schatz

Rad American History by Kate Schatz

Kate Schatz

Rabbit Test

Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective

The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler

Saints for All Occasions by J Courtney Sullivan

When Abortion Was a Crime by Leslie J Reagan

Wake Up Little Susie by Rickie Solinger

Relinquished by Gretchen Sisson

My Mother’s Daughter by Tracy Clark-Flory

Want Me by Tracy Clark-Flory

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Kate Schatz on Instagram or Her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Rachel Hochhauser joins us to discuss her debut novel, Lady Tremaine, a reimagining of Cinderella told from the perspective of its most misunderstood figure.

This week, we’re stepping back into a story we think we know, and turning it inside out. Rachel Hochhauser joins us to talk about her debut novel, Lady Tremaine, a bold and lyrical reimagining of Cinderella told from the perspective of its most misunderstood figure. Together, we explore what it means to reclaim a villain, the power structures embedded in fairy tales, and the quiet, often invisible labor of women navigating survival in a world that offers them very little protection. This conversation is full of trivia, with fascinating tidbits about falcons to reimagining the hinges of one of our favorite fairy tales.

In this fascinating conversation, we explore:

From Puzzle Maker to Published Debut: Rachel walks us through her emotional journey to publication — from manuscript to agent to book deal — and reflects on the realities of the debut journey, while celebrating how her two unique jobs intertwine. Don’t worry, we DO talk about her jigsaw puzzle process!

Rewriting a Villain’s Origin Story: Rachel shares the first spark behind telling Cinderella from Lady Tremaine’s perspective and the challenge of reshaping a fixed fairy tale into something historically grounded, emotionally layered, and narratively new.

Crafting Voice, Research, and Power

We explore the lyrical rhythm of her prose, the fascinating research behind the scenes with the falcon, and how the rivalry between Etheldreda and the Queen allowed her to examine power, motherhood, and structural limits placed on women in a way that she’s excited to share with the next generation of readers.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s companion list with 31 Fairy Tale Retellings, available to reserve now for your best weekend ever. Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

Meet Rachel Hochhauser

Rachel Hochhauser is a writer and co-founder of Piecework, a cult-favorite puzzle brand. Raised in Santa Barbara, she studied at New York University and earned her master’s in fiction from the University of Southern California. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two daughters. Lady Tremaine is her debut novel and available on store shelves on March 3rd.

Lady Tremaine Book Summary

Twice-widowed, Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley is solely responsible for her two children, a priggish stepdaughter, a razor-taloned peregrine falcon, and a crumbling manor. Fierce and determined, Ethel clings to the respectability her deceased husband’s title affords her, hoping it will secure her daughters’ future through marriage.

When a royal ball offers the chance to change everything, Ethel risks her pride in pursuit of an invitation for all three of her daughters—only to see her hopes fulfilled by the wrong one. As an engagement to the future king unfolds, Ethel discovers a sordid secret hidden in the depths of the royal family, forcing her to choose between the security she craves and the wellbeing of the stepdaughter who has rebuffed her at every turn.

As if Bridgerton met Circe, and exhilarating to its core, Lady Tremaine reimagines the myth of the evil stepmother at the heart of the world’s most famous fairy tale. It is a battle cry for a mother’s love for her daughters, and a celebration of women everywhere who make their own fortunes.

Lady Tremaine Reimagines Cinderella

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

The Best Books I Read in 2025 (full list)

Join the March Book Club 3/26 at 8 PM ET (The Mad Wife)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser

Returning to Magical Realism with Eowyn Ivey (Podcast Episode)

Circe by Madeline Miller

The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks

The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Rachel Hochhauser on Instagram or Her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Aisha Hassan discusses her debut novel, When the Fireflies Dance, a moving family saga set in Lahore and the research inspired by real stories of bonded labor.

In this week’s episode of Book Gang, I’m excited to share my conversation with debut novelist Aisha Hassan about her first novel, When the Fireflies Dance. This moving family saga is set in Lahore and draws on real-life stories of bonded labor in Pakistan’s brick kilns. The narrative follows one family’s struggle for survival, dignity, and hope after the loss of their son. During our discussion, we explore Aisha’s journey to publication, the intricate construction of her novel, and the important responsibility of addressing social injustices through fiction.

In this informative conversation, we explore:

A Steady Road to Publication: Aisha reflects on the early spark for the novel, her process of finding an agent, and what the reality of a debut journey looked like behind the scenes, including the quieter, less glamorous parts of bringing a first book into the world.

Building Lahore on the Page: We talk about her early visits to brick kilns, the environmental realities of red dust and smoke that shape the novel’s atmosphere, and how she constructed a world where ecological harm and economic injustice are ever-present forces.

Family, Memory, and Revelation: A death in the family shadows every chapter. Aisha explains her decision to reveal trauma in fragments, the symbolism of the fireflies in her story, and what she hopes readers understand about bonded labor after turning the final page.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s companion list with 41 Family Drama Books to Escape Your Real Life, available to reserve now for your best weekend ever. Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

When the Fireflies Dance Book Summary

Inspired by a shocking true story, this haunting debut novel of love, brotherhood, resilience, and redemption set in Pakistan calls to mind the modern classics The Kite Runner and The Beekeeper of Aleppo.

On the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, a large yellow moon hung low in the sky when the men came with dogs and guns and cricket bats. In front of his family’s small hut on the edge of a looming brick kiln, Lalloo’s brother was murdered.

Unable to escape the memory of that horrible night, Lalloo’s parents and sisters remain trapped, the kiln chimney churning black smoke into the sky as the family slave, brick by brick, to pay off their debts. To rescue them, Lalloo must free himself from his past and carve out his own destiny.

Meet Aisha Hassan

Aisha Hassan is an award-winning writer living and working in London. A graduate of the University of Oxford’s prestigious Creative Writing Master’s programme and a Curtis Brown Creative alumna, Aisha’s play Pickled Mangoes was performed at Soho Theatre, and her poetry has appeared in Under the Radar and Campus magazines. WHEN THE FIREFLIES DANCE is her debut novel and has been longlisted for the Bridport Novel Award and Hachette’s Mo Siewcharran Prize, and shortlisted for the London Writers Award. As a child, she lived in Lahore, Pakistan.

In the Shadow of the Brick Kilns of Pakistan (When the Fireflies Dance)

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

NEW BOOK LIST: 41 Family Drama Books to Escape Real Life

Join the February Book Club 2/26 at 8 PM ET (People of Means)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

When the Fireflies Dance by Aisha Hassan (KINDLE UNLIMITED)

The Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn

White Mughals by William Dalrymple

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Bee Keeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

A Splintering Dur e Aziz Amna

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Aisha Hassan on Instagram or Her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Debut author Lauren Morrow joins us to discuss Little Movements, a sharp, funny, and deeply perceptive literary novel set in the world of professional dance.

Lauren Morrow joins Book Gang to discuss her satirical novel, Little Movements, which follows Layla, a Black choreographer navigating a fragile marriage, a long-delayed hope of motherhood, and a career-defining opportunity at a prestigious arts institution.

When Layla relocates alone to create a new piece from the ground up, she finds herself confronting not just the physical demands of dance but the subtler pressures of tokenization, institutional expectations, and who gets to define what her work “means.”

Drawing from Morrow’s background in dance and arts publicity, Little Movements offers an insider’s view of how cultural organizations frame progress, how money shapes artistic freedom, and how women—especially Black women—are often asked to carry symbolic weight they never volunteered for.

In this fascinating conversation, we explore:

• From MFA to debut novel: Lauren takes us back to the earliest seed of Little Movements, how her time at the Helen Zell Writers’ Program shaped the book, and what her path to publication looked like once the manuscript was complete. We also talk candidly about celebrating the “yes” and what it really entails to debut with a literary novel.
• Writing the politics of art: We dig into the behind-the-scenes realities of the dance world as a Black woman, including institutional language, and the quiet pressure placed on artists to make their work “say something,” for others.
• Capturing movement on a page: Lauren shares how she approached putting dance on the page, given its inherent visual and kinetic qualities. We discuss the techniques she used in her prose to make readers feel the movement on the page, even if they haven’t danced themselves.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s companion list with 21 Books About Ballet to reserve now to celebrate the arts! Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

Little Movements Book Summary

Layla Smart was raised by her pragmatic Midwestern mother to dream medium. But all Layla’s ever wanted is a career in dance, which requires dreaming big. So when she receives a prestigious offer to be the choreographer-in-residence at Briar House, an arts program in rural Vermont, she leaves behind Brooklyn, her job, her friends, and her husband to pursue it.

Navigating Briar House and the small, white town that surrounds it proves difficult—Layla wants to create art for art’s sake and resist tokenization, but the institution’s director keeps encouraging Layla to dig deep into her people’s history. Still, the mental and physical demands of dancing spark a sharp, unexpected sense of joy, bringing into focus the years she’d distanced herself from her true calling for the sake of her marriage and maintaining the status quo.

Just as she begins to see her life more clearly, she discovers a betrayal that proves the cracks in her marriage were deeper than she ever could have known. Then Briar House’s dangerously problematic past comes to light. And Layla discovers she’s pregnant. Suddenly, dreaming medium sounds a lot more appealing.

Poignant, propulsive, and darkly funny, Little Movements is a novel about self-discovery, about what we must endure—or let go of—in order to realize our dreams.

Meet Lauren Morrow

Lauren Morrow studied dance and creative writing at Connecticut College and earned an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. She was a Kimbilio Fellow, an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow, and the recipient of two Hopwood Awards, among other prizes. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares and The South Carolina Review. She worked in publicity at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is now a publicity manager at Dutton, Plume, and Tiny Reparations Books. Originally from St. Louis, she lives in Brooklyn.

Little Movements: A Grown-Up Coming-of-Age in Motion

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

Join the February Book Club 2/26 at 8 PM ET (People of Means)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

Little Movements by Lauren Morrow

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

Alvin Ailey’s Revelations

Dance Theater of Harlem

Ailey II

Naima Coster

Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans

Luster by Raven Leilani

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

James by Percival Everett

Erasure by Percival Everett

American Fiction

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

Sarah Damoff – The Bright Years Podcast Interview

The Feath3r Theory

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Lauren Morrow on Instagram or Her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Author Nancy Johnson joins us to discuss People of Means, our February Book Club selection for Black History Month, a powerful, moving dual-timeline novel.

Nancy Johnson joins Book Gang to discuss her richly layered second novel, which explores race, class, ambition, and resistance in 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago, offering readers a perfectly baked reading experience for Black History Month.

In this deeply thoughtful conversation, Nancy reflects on writing a novel that spans decades—from the Jim Crow South and the Fisk University protest movement to the corporate corridors of the early 1990s and the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict. We talk about generational inheritance, the pressures of Black excellence, and the quiet, everyday decisions that shape history just as much as headline-making acts of protest.

Nancy also shares what it was like to speak at Fisk University, a moment that mirrors the heart of People of Means, and how beginning her fiction career later in life shaped both her confidence and her creative freedom. From navigating second-novel pressure to crafting two distinct voices for Freda and Tulip, this conversation offers insight into both the craft of writing and the moral questions at the center of the book.

In this enlightening conversation, we explore:

• Privilege, “Black excellence,” and the cost of being exceptional: Through Freda and Tulip, People of Means interrogates the idea of excellence as both inheritance and burden. Nancy unpacks how upward mobility creates opportunity while also setting expectations that can be overwhelming.
• Dual timelines as moral mirrors:  Spanning 1960s Nashville and 1992 Chicago, the novel places two women of means at pivotal historical moments—the Fisk University protests during Jim Crow and the Rodney King and Latasha Harlins aftermath. Nancy shares how she differentiated Freda’s and Tulip’s voices while maintaining an emotional throughline.
• Everyday resistance and the responsibility of those with “means”: Rather than centering grand acts of activism, People of Means asks what responsibility looks like in daily life—at work, within families, and in moments where silence feels safer than speaking up.

BONUS BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s companion list: 29 Dual-Timeline Novels that use this as the heart of their story structure. I am including my all-time favorites and a few new releases I can’t wait to read. Patrons will receive weekly printable checklists for their next library visit!

People of Means Book Summary

From the acclaimed author of The Kindest Lie, a heartrending novel about a mother and daughter each seeking justice and following their dreams in 1960s Nashville and 1990s Chicago.

Two women. Two pivotal moments. One dream for justice and equality.

In the fall of 1959, Freda Gilroy arrives on the campus of Fisk University full of hope, carrying a suitcase and the voice of her father telling her she’s part of a family legacy of Black excellence. Soon, the ugliness of the Jim Crow South intrudes, and Freda, reluctant to get involved, is torn between a soon-to-be doctor and an audacious young activist. Freda must decide how much she’s willing to risk in the name of justice.

In 1992 Chicago, Freda’s daughter, Tulip, is an ambitious PR professional on track for an exciting career, if workplace politics and racial microaggressions don’t get in her way. But with the ruling in the Rodney King trial weighing heavily on her, Tulip feels called to action and must choose, just like her mother had three decades prior, what her role will be in the story of America’s quest for equality.

Insightful, evocative, and richly imagined with historical details, People of Means is an emotional tour de force about the lasting legacy of family bonds and the far-reaching ways the past shapes our present.

Meet Nancy Johnson

A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates nationwide.

Her second novel, People of Means, published by William Morrow/HarperCollins, was named one of PEOPLE Magazine’s Most Anticipated Books of 2025, with praise from NPR, Real Simple, Southern Living, Woman’s World, and more.

Her debut novel, The Kindest Lie, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and received widespread critical acclaim. A graduate of Northwestern University and UNC–Chapel Hill, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago, where she works as a director of brand journalism and storytelling for a major healthcare nonprofit.

Gratitude to Our Show Patrons: This week’s episode is open to all listeners thanks to generous donations made through Buy Me a Coffee and your community memberships. If you’d like to keep the conversation going, you’re invited to join our Patreon Book Club chat on February 26 at 8 PM ET, where we’ll dive deeper into spoilers, themes, and reader reactions. Membership is $5 a month, or you can prepay for the year and save 10%.

February Book Club: People of Means

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

NEW BOOK LIST: 29 Dual-Timeline Books to Read Now

Join the February Book Club 2/26 at 8 PM ET (People of Means)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

People of Means by Nancy Johnson

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

Fisk University Speech

Diane Nash

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Nancy Johnson on Instagram or Her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Journalist Christine Kuehn joins us to discuss Family of Spies and her gripping emotional reckoning with her family’s shocking personal ties to Nazi espionage.

The book begins in 1994, when a single letter from a historian pierces Kuehn’s quiet suburban life, revealing a secret she never suspected. Kuehn discovered that members of her own family were Nazi intelligence agents. What follows is a thirty-year investigation that pulls from FBI files, government and family archives, photographs, correspondence, and interviews.

In today’s Book Gang conversation, Kuehn reflects on reporting on her own lineage, the ethical and emotional stakes of uncovering a truth that implicates the people who raised her, and how she structured the book across dual timelines to hold both the global history and her personal reckoning.

This episode airs the week of National Holocaust Remembrance Day. This moment calls us to remember not only the victims of Nazi violence, but also the systems, enablers, and silences that allowed it to spread. Christine now uses her research to support Jewish organizations, which you will hear about in today’s conversation as we unbox the past together.

In this emotional conversation, we explore:

• A letter that rewrote a life: Christine walks us through the 1994 moment that sent her on a decades-long quest for truth. We talk about disbelief, denial, and what it feels like to realize your family story is not the one you were told.
• Investigating your own inheritance: Drawing on her background as a journalist, Christine explains how her research methods evolved as new archives opened and technology advanced, how she assessed unreliable or conflicting memories, and what it was like to work alongside her husband while racing against her father’s dementia.
• Espionage hidden in plain sight: We unpack the book’s most chilling revelations. Nazi agents embedded in 1930s Hawaii, social fronts built on glamour and charm, and how everyday excess eventually drew the FBI’s attention.

BONUS BOOK LIST: This week’s companion book list features 22 Books About Spies that include both fiction and nonfiction titles to give Christine’s book a landing place. Patrons will receive printable checklists for their next visit to the library!

Family of Spies Book Summary

A propulsive, never-before-told story of one family’s shocking involvement as Nazi and Japanese spies during WWII and the pivotal role they played in the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

It began with a letter from a screenwriter, asking about a story. Your family. World War II. Nazi spies. Christine Kuehn was shocked and confused. When she asked her seventy-year-old father, Eberhard, what this could possibly be about, he stalled, deflected, demurred, and then wept. He knew this day would come.

The Kuehns, a prominent Berlin family, saw the rise of the Nazis as a way out of the hard times that had befallen them. When the daughter of the family, Eberhard’s sister, Ruth, met Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels at a party, the two hit it off, and they had an affair. But Ruth had a secret―she was half Jewish―and Goebbels found out. Rather than having Ruth killed, Goebbels instead sent the entire Kuehn family to Hawaii, to work as spies half a world away. There, Ruth and her parents established an intricate spy operation from their home, just a few miles down the road from Pearl Harbor, shielding Eberhard from the truth. They passed secrets to the Japanese, leading to the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. After Eberhard’s father was arrested and tried for his involvement in planning the assault, Eberhard learned the harsh truth about his family and faced a decision that would change the path of the Kuehn family forever.

Jumping back and forth between Christine discovering her family’s secret and the untold past of the spies in Germany, Japan, and Hawaii, Family of Spies is fast-paced history at its finest and will rewrite the narrative of December 7, 1941.

Meet Christine Kuehn

Christine Kuehn was cocooned in the sanctity of a quiet suburban life when, in 1994, a letter from a historian pierced that bubble, sending her on a thirty-year quest to uncover a horrendous family secret kept hidden for half a century. Following a career in journalism, public relations, and nonprofits, Christine now lives in Maryland with her husband, close to their three grown children. Family of Spies is her debut book.

A Family’s Dark Past is Finally Illuminated (Family of Spies)

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

Join the February Book Club 2/26 at 8 PM ET (People of Means)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

People of Means by Nancy Johnson

Family of Spies by Christine Kuhn

Milo Todd is Reclaiming Trans History (The Lilac People)

Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

At Dawn We Slept by Gordon W. Prange

Shirley Temple in Hawaii

Royal Hawaiian

The World’s 30 Greatest Women Spies by Kurt D. Singer

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Christine Kuehn on Instagram

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Author Lior Torenberg unpacks her debut Just Watch Me, a darkly funny livestream novel that exposes the cost of performing pain online, and our hunger to watch.

Debut author Lior Torenberg joins us to talk about Just Watch Me, a bold, internet-shaped novel that unfolds over seven days of nonstop livestreaming. Together, we dig into what it means to write fiction rooted in our current digital moment, and why stories about performance feel so urgent right now.

We talk about Torenberg’s path from initial concept to publication, the realities of debuting with a formally inventive novel, and the creative risks of building a narrative around livestream chats, audience participation, and escalating dares. She also walks us through the choice to compress the story into a single week, and how that story structure intensifies both tension and intimacy.

In this fun conversation, we explore:

• Writing inside internet culture: Lior discusses the creative risks of anchoring a debut novel so firmly in 2020s livestream culture, why she wasn’t afraid of the book “dating” itself, and how she captured the chaos of livestream chats—misspellings, slang, trolls, and all—while keeping the story readable and propulsive.
• Performance, pain, and the cost of being seen: We unpack the escalating hot pepper challenges, Dell’s physical vulnerability, and the darker questions the book raises about what audiences are willing to watch (and what creators are willing to endure) when financial survival depends on strangers.
• Loneliness, debt, and the gig-economy cliff edge: Beneath the dark humor and inventive form, Just Watch Me is a deeply human story about grief, medical debt, and the feast-or-famine reality of online survival. Lior reflects on how she wanted readers to feel about Dell by the end—and what the novel reveals about our collective longing to be noticed.

BONUS BOOK LIST: This week’s companion list features 43 Debut Books of 2026, including every upcoming release currently on my radar (plus future podcast guests) so you can start reserving library holds and building your TBR early. Patrons will receive printable checklists for their next visit to the library!

Just Watch Me Book Summary

Fleabag meets Big Swiss in this bold debut about a charismatic misfit who livestreams her life for seven days and nights to raise money to save her comatose sister—a poignant and darkly funny exploration of grief, forgiveness, and redemption.

Dell Danvers is barely keeping it together. She’s behind on rent for her studio apartment (formerly a walk-in closet), she’s being plagued by perpetual stomach pain, and her younger sister, Daisy, is in a coma at a hospital that wants to pull the plug. Freshly unemployed and subsisting on selling plants to trust fund kids, Dell impulsively starts a 24-hour livestream under the username mademoiselle_dell to fundraise for private life support for Daisy.

Dell is her stream’s dungeon master, banishing those who don’t abide by her terms and steadily rising up the platform’s ranks with her sympathetic story and angry-funny screen presence. Once she discovers she has a talent for eating spicy food, her streaming fame explodes and her pepper consumption escalates from jalapeño to ghost to the hottest pepper on earth: the Carolina Reaper. Dell is finally good at something—but as her behavior becomes riskier and a shadowy troll threatens to expose her dark past, Dell must reckon with what her digital life ignores, and what real redemption means.

Narrated in seven taut chapters, one for each day of Dell’s livestream, Just Watch Me careens through a week in the life of this misguided striver with a heart of gold. Voyeuristic and visceral, audacious and outrageous, Lior Torenberg’s debut is both a razor-sharp tragicomedy about the internet economy and a surreptitiously moving tale about the desire to be watched, and the terror of being seen.

Meet Lior Torenberg

Lior Torenberg’s work has been published by One Story, MAYDAY, the Poetry Society of New York, and others. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and is a graduate of the Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s Book Project. Just Watch Me is her first novel.

When Pain Becomes Content (Just Watch Me)

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

Buy Me a Coffee – I’m grateful for your support this year!

NEW BOOK LIST: These Debut Books of 2026 Should Not Be Missed

Join the January Book Club 1/29 at 8 PM ET (Eleanore of Avignon)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier

Just Watch Me by Lior Torenberg

NYC Hot Sauce Expo

TTYL Series by Lauren Myracle

Margot’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

Hot Ones

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Lior Torenberg on Instagram or her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter

Author Elizabeth DeLozier joins us to discuss Eleanore of Avignon, our January Book Club pick, and her bold debut shaped by plague, medicine, and female power.

In this free conversation, Elizabeth DeLozier takes us behind the scenes of Eleanore of Avignon—a richly researched historical novel set during the Black Death, written during the modern pandemic that reshaped how many of us think about illness, fear, and survival.

Elizabeth shares how long it took to bring this ambitious debut from first idea to finished book, what it was like to pitch such a high-stakes story as a first novel, and how her background in medicine deeply informed the way she wrote Eleanore’s work as a healer and midwife. We also talk about writing outside of traditional MFA pathways, balancing historical plausibility with emotionally resonant characters, and what surprised her most while researching 14th-century Avignon.

Gratitude to Our Show Patrons: This week’s episode is open to all listeners thanks to generous donations made through Buy Me a Coffee and your community memberships. If you’d like to keep the conversation going, you’re invited to join our Patreon Book Club chat on January 29 at 8 PM ET, where we’ll dive deeper into spoilers, themes, and reader reactions. Membership is $5 a month, or you can prepay for the year and save 10%.

In this fascinating conversation, we explore:

• Writing a big, ambitious debut: From outlining and pitching to finding an agent and selling the book, Elizabeth walks us through the long road to publication and what she learned along the way.
• Medicine, midwifery, and historical research: How Elizabeth’s medical background shaped Eleanore’s role as a healer, the realities of early medical practices, and the most astonishing details she uncovered while researching the period. 
• Plague stories then and now: The eerie parallels between 1347 and the present day, why readers keep returning to historical plague narratives, and how Eleanore of Avignon sits in conversation with books like Hamnet.

BONUS WEEKLY BOOK LIST: Don’t miss this week’s companion list with 18 Unforgettable Midwife Books, perfect for readers who want to explore these themes further. Patrons will receive printable checklists for their next visit to the library!

Eleanore of Avignon Book Summary

Rich with unforgettable characters and full of captivating historical drama, Eleanore of Avignon is the story of a healer who risks her life, her freedom, and everything she holds dear to protect her beloved city from the encroaching Black Death.

Avignon, 1347. Eleanore is a young midwife and herbalist with remarkable skills. But as she learned the day her mother died, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is draw attention to herself.

In a chance encounter, Eleanore meets the enigmatic personal physician to the powerful Pope Clement, and strikes a deal with him to take her on as his apprentice.

Then, two pieces of earth-shattering news: the Black Death has made landfall in Europe, and the disgraced Queen Joanna is coming to Avignon. She is pregnant and in need of a midwife, a role only Eleanore can fill.

The plague spreads like wildfire, leaving half the city dead in its wake. Desperate for a scapegoat, the people of Avignon follow a group of religious fanatics on a witch-hunt, one that could cost Eleanore—an intelligent, unwed woman; a talented healer—everything.

Meet Elizabeth DeLozier

Elizabeth DeLozier holds a BA in Spanish literature, a BS in biological anthropology, and a doctorate in physical therapy. A practicing pelvic floor physical therapist, avid traveler, animal lover, and history nerd, she lives in Southern California with her husband, twin sons, and rescue dogs. Eleanore of Avignon is her debut novel, and her sophomore novel, The Whitechapel Full Moon Society, will be published in 2026.

Inside the Creation of Eleanore of Avignon

Listen to the Book Gang Podcast:

Listen below or listen on your favorite podcast listening platform!

Mentioned in this episode:

NEW BOOK LIST: 18 Unforgettable Midwife Books

Join the January Book Club 1/29 at 8 PM ET (Eleanore of Avignon)

2026 MomAdvice Book Club Books (All 12 Selections)

Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth DeLozier

abookolive

The Great Mortality by John Kelly

Station Eleven

A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman

Hamnet

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Taylor Swift – The End of an Era

The White Chapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier

Bookshop.org pays a 10% commission on every sale and matches it with 10% to support independent bookstores.

Connect With Us:

Join the Book Gang Patreon

Connect With Elizabeth DeLozier on Instagram or her Website

Connect with Amy on Instagram, TikTok, or MomAdvice

Get My Happy List Newsletter

Get the Daily Kindle Deals Newsletter