Okay read - recommend! ( )

This was a really interesting boom. A historical novel about the tobacco industry in North Carolina.
Maddie is a 15 year old aspiring seamstress. Her mother leaves her at her aunts for the summer to go find a new man. Aunt Etta runs a successful business making dresses for the tobacco wives. She takes Maddie on as an apprentice. Unfortunately, Aunt Etta contracts the measles and is unable to continue her work. Maddie takes over and blossoms into an enerterprising seamstress. She develops a friendship with the "queen" of the tobacco wives. As she's working, she finds out some disturbing facts about tobacco. She tries to enlighten others to these facts but they choose to be blind so that they can continue to live their posh lives. She finally gets through to Mitzy but she's reluctant to press her husband for change. After he passes away, Mitzy brings proof to Maddie who is petitioning congress on the side effects of smoking. Maddie also opens her own shop and marries David who is Mitzy's godson. So much more happens in the book. I recommend reading it. ( )

This book might have been better if I had read it instead of listening to it. It took me more than two weeks to finish it because I kept falling asleep. ( )

Maddie Sykes is a burgeoning seamstress who’s just arrived in Bright Leaf, North Carolina—the tobacco capital of the South—where her aunt has a thriving sewing business. After years of war rations and shortages, Bright Leaf is a prosperous wonderland in full technicolor bloom, and Maddie is dazzled by the bustle of the crisply uniformed female factory workers, the palatial homes, and, most of all, her aunt’s glossiest clientele: the wives of the powerful tobacco executives.

When a series of unexpected events thrusts Maddie into the role of lead dressmaker for the town’s most influential women, she scrambles to produce their ornate gowns for the biggest party of the season. But she soon learns that Bright Leaf isn’t quite the carefree paradise that it seems: A trail of misfortune follows many of the women, including substantial health problems. Although Maddie is quick to believe that this is a coincidence, she inadvertently uncovers evidence that suggests otherwise.

Maddie wants to report what she knows, but in a town where everyone depends on Big Tobacco to survive, she doesn’t know who she can trust—and fears that exposing the truth may destroy the lives of the proud, strong women with whom she has forged strong bonds. ( )

Thanks to the Book Club Girl Early Read program and NetGalley for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This was a coming-of-age, historical fiction debut taking place in the south at the conclusion of World War II. This Young Adult novel is a fictionalized story of the beginning years of Big Tobacco’s deceit concerning cigarettes’ deadly health hazards. Author Adele Myers explains her choice of topic: “While early evidence of tobacco’s dangers focused on lung cancer, I chose to write about the impact smoking had on women. The 1940s was a time of social unrest, wartime conflict, and emerging new options for women, a time that some historians say spurred the modern women’s rights movement. Setting the book in this period and taking liberties with the timeline and nature of tobacco studies’ emergence enabled me to explore themes such as Southern women’s role in society, the impact of WWII on the workforce, and the use of women in advertising.”

The story is told from the point of view of 15-year-old Maddie Sykes, who is abruptly left for the summer with her Aunt Etta by her recently widowed mother. Maddie has been mentored by her aunt, a talented seamstress to the wealthiest women in the North Carolina town of Bright Leaf. Aunt Etta calls her clients Tobacco Wives, and when she suddenly becomes ill, it is up to Maddie to take over and produce glamourous couture-like gowns for the upcoming Gala.

While demonstrating her dressmaking talent, Maddie uncovers secrets about the dangers of tobacco, the reasons for many local health issues, and discovers who are deceivers and who are true friends. She matures during this time, with encouragement from women such as Ashley, an influential socialite who tells her: “Keep at it, Maddie. That feeling of satisfaction, knowing you can take care of yourself. That’s something no one can take away from you.”

The setting was realistically described: the small southern town of Bright Leaf, the classes (society mavens vs. the working women), the weather, the mansions and clothes. But the characters were somewhat predictable - from the socialites to the villainous tobacco magnates. I had trouble buying into Maddie’s character as she vacillated from naïve and impetuous to reasonably grown up – and I found her sewing/designing talent and capabilities at that young age hard to believe.

Within the framework of the tobacco industry, this novel illustrates the history of women’s activism during the post-war period, demonstrating the power of female connection and the importance of truth, honesty, and integrity.

This would be great for book clubs as well as an important book for high school readers.

I’ve had this on my TBR digital shelf since December 2021, and so glad to finally read it. Thanks to Val for joining me on this buddy read journey. ( )