The Secret Readers' Society

A novel about courage, books and the fight for women’s rights

Late 19th-century London was a turning point for women and their rights. Until then, it was terrifyingly easy to brand a woman a deranged hysteric and lock her away in a mental asylum, from which she might never be released. This is the fate that threatens Eleanor, terrorised by her despotic husband, and even the young, emotionally unstable Lavinia, whose own father is overly concerned about her. The young American Rose is not faring much better, struggling to make her way in high English society, her fiancé firmly under the thumb of his boorish brother. Fortunately, there is also Lady Duxbury, who brings all three women, forbidden from reading novels, together in her Secret Book Club…