The Lunar Housewife

Author: Caroline Woods
Genre: Historical Thriller
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2022
Pages: 320
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: New York City 1953: Louise Leithauser's star is on the rise. She's filed some of the best pieces at her boyfriend Joe's brand new literary magazine, Downtown (albeit under a male pseudonym), her relationship still makes her weak at the knees, and the science fiction romance she's writing on the side, "The Lunar Housewife," is going swimmingly. But when she overhears Joe and his business partner fighting about listening devices and death threats, Louise can't help but investigate, and she quickly finds herself wading into dangerous waters.

As Louise pieces together rumors, hunches, and clues, the picture begins to come together - Downtown's strings are being pulled by someone powerful, and that someone doesn't want artists or writers criticizing Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, opportunities are falling in Louise's lap that she'd have to be crazy to refuse, including an interview with America's most famous living author, Ernest Hemingway. Can Louise stand by and let doors keep opening for her, while the establishment sells out and censors her fellow writers? As her suspicions and paranoia mount, Louise's own novel, The Lunar Housewife changes shape, colored by her newfound knowledge. And when Louise is forced to consider her future sooner than she planned, she needs to decide whether she can trust Joe for the rest of her life.

Review: What an interesting mashup of historical fiction and thriller. I found this novel difficult to put down from the moment I started reading, which was surprising to me. This novel within a novel is a different type of book, and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

The author took me straight back to the 1950s and did a great job capturing the times, while not losing sight of the original plot. Really well done novel.