Ms. Woods has written an elegant novel of political and cultural suspense. The mystery element in The Lunar Housewife is light, but the Cold War intrigue it conjures is gripping, and Louise’s dilemmas and adventures will hold sympathetic readers in thrall.
An addictive binge of a read that’s equal parts intelligent introspection and nail-biting suspense ... The Lunar Housewife will have readers thinking long and hard about how good the 'good old days' really were.
Woods intersperses chapters from Louise’s manuscript throughout her story, giving readers a clear view of how subversive her thoughts and beliefs are. An engrossing tale of a talented young woman longing to break free from the restrictive gender roles of the 1950s; ideal for fans of Anna Pitoniak and Suzanne Rindell.
Chunks of the SF novel are interspersed along the way, and while this tactic effectively displays Louise’s growing feminist point of view, it tends to pull readers out of the thoroughly fascinating main plot, in which a determined woman spies on suspected spies. The tantalizing slice of literary history, combined with the revealing look at good-old-boy sexism in postwar publishing, will draw readers across multiple genres.
Cleverly inventive yet authentic–feeling ... The suspense builds as Woods shifts between the main narrative and the space romance, which provides a window into Louise’s frustrated mindset about gender dynamics, politics, and power. This is a delightfully different variety of spy story.
