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.
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.
