NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A raucous, whip-smart collection of stories featuring retro-feminist ladies who lunch.” —Elle Meet the women of American Housewife. They wear lipstick, pearls, and sunscreen, even when it’s cloudy. They casserole. They pinwheel. And then they kill a party crasher, carefully stepping around the body to pull cookies from the oven. Taking us from a haunted pre-war Manhattan apartment building to the unique initiation ritual of a book club, these twelve delightfully demented stories are a refreshing and wicked answer to the question: “What do housewives do all day?”

"Deliciously unputdownable." —The Washington Post "A stunning, disturbing thriller that will have your mind and heart racing." —Samantha Downing From the author of the acclaimed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife comes a pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult and avenge the deaths of the women taken in by it, no matter the cost. While in college in upstate New York, Shay Evans and her best friends met a captivating man who seduced them with a web of lies about the way the world works, bringing them under his thrall. By senior year, Shay and her friend Laurel were the only ones who managed to escape. Now, eight years later, Shay's built a new life in a tony Texas suburb. But when she hears the horrifying news of Laurel's death—delivered, of all ways, by her favorite true-crime podcast crusader—she begins to suspect that the past she thought she buried is still very much alive, and the predators more dangerous than ever. Recruiting the help of the podcast host, Shay goes back to the place she vowed never to return to in search of answers. As she follows the threads of her friend's life, she's pulled into a dark, seductive world, where wealth and privilege shield brutal philosophies that feel all too familiar. When Shay's obsession with uncovering the truth becomes so consuming she can no longer separate her desire for justice from darker desires newly reawakened, she must confront the depths of her own complicity and conditioning. But in a world built for men to rule it—both inside the cult and outside of it—is justice even possible, and if so, how far will Shay go to get it?

A successful career, a beautiful wife and children and his pick of the sexiest women in town. It seems Tarron has the best of both worlds as he manages to indulge in wild nights out with his lover and quiet nights at home with his family. But the party is about to end. When Tarron's cheating ways are revealed, his cool-headed wife, Secret, handles it like a pro. That's partly because, true to her name, Secret is hiding some bad behaviour of her own. And now, as Secret starts to truly live out her fantasies, neither she nor Tarron may be ready for the consequences.

"There's no place like home"--That's what I tell myself as I pull another flawless meal from the oven. This perfect house on a quiet street was supposed to be my sanctuary, a place to recover. But everything changed the moment I saw that woman in the charity shop. She triggered something dark, buried deep within my memory ... Now I've started forgetting small things, like locking the front door. And bigger things, like remembering to pick my little girl up from nursery. I feel terrified every time I pass through a particular spot in our living room. And sometimes, when I'm alone, I'm sure I can hear a baby crying ... I think the woman in the shop knows what happened to me. But if I can't trust myself to believe she's real, who will?

A mother-daughter story about the strong pull of tradition, and the lure and cost of breaking free of it. When Shoko decided to marry an American GI and leave Japan, she had her parents' blessing, her brother's scorn, and a gift from her husband-a book on how to be a proper American housewife. As she crossed the ocean to America, Shoko also brought with her a secret she would need to keep her entire life... Half a century later, Shoko's plans to finally return to Japan and reconcile with her brother are derailed by illness. In her place, she sends her grown American daughter, Sue, a divorced single mother whose own life isn't what she hoped for. As Sue takes in Japan, with all its beauty and contradictions, she discovers another side to her mother and returns to America unexpectedly changed and irrevocably touched.

I have three kids, four cats, two dogs, one husband, and a migraine. My oldest son is an MD: Manic Depressive. My middle child won't be happy until she has lost enough weight to buy her clothes in the Barbie aisle. My youngest son sleeps all day and prowls around all night. I don't have his test results back yet, but I'm pretty sure he's a vampire. Life is like a box of chocolates for some. For me, it's more like the popular board game by Parker Bros: Monotony. No matter how meticulously I sweep, mop, and vacuum, I turn around and have to do it all again in six months. There was a time when an unfulfilled housewife could stick her head inside a gas oven and end it all while still retaining a modicum of dignity. If my husband comes home from work to find my head in the microwave, I'm just going to look silly. The afterlife is likely overrated anyway. Take the silk gowns for example. Ironically, most women wouldn't be caught dead wearing white after labor day. Besides, neatness has never been my strong suit. I will spill coffee or grape juice on it the first day. In other words, I'll be doing laundry again. And if that silk doesn't need to be dry cleaned, those wings surely will. I'm a realist. My husband imagines spending eternity lounging around on a fluffy cloud and doing absolutely nothing - a role for which he is supremely qualified. I, on the other hand, anticipate that the cloud's moisture will make my hair go limp. Heaven might not be an option because my husband is an atheist and I'm exhausted. People sometimes ask if that concerns me. What they don't realize is that when you're married, as long as you and your spouse are together for the rest of eternity, you're going to be in hell either way.

Women who want God to be more than superficially in their lives can rise above the world's expectations by becoming housewife theologians finding true meaning and true worship everyday. Great for journaling and for group discussion.

Housewives constitute a large section of the population, yet they have received very little attention, let alone respect. Glenna Matthews, who herself spent many years as "just a housewife" before becoming a scholar of American history, sets out to redress this imbalance. While the male world of work has always received the most respect, Matthews maintains that widespread reverence for the home prevailed in the nineteenth century. The early stages of industrialization made possible a strong tradition of cooking, baking, and sewing that gave women great satisfaction and a place in the world. Viewed as the center of republican virtue, the home also played an important religious role. Examining novels, letters, popular magazines, and cookbooks, Matthews seeks to depict what women had and what they have lost in modern times. She argues that the culture of professionalism in the late nineteenth century and the culture of consumption that came to fruition in the 1920s combined to kill off the "cult of domesticity." This important, challenging book sheds new light on a central aspect of human experience: the essential task of providing a society's nurture and daily maintenance.

Lies of a Real Housewife: Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil By Angela Stanton

This book, More Than A Housewife, is not only excerpts of Vicki Gunvalson's life while growing up... the hurdles she had to get over, such as a disease that could have taken her life, but it is also a collection of experiences she's had while trying to transform herself from a once stay-at-home mom to a full-fledged entrepreneur. There have been many obstacles along the way while working toward increasing her business and she shares with the readers just how she got past and began breaking away from the fears of true success. Within the book, she explains how she found her purpose which led her to understand better, the directions she should take. This information, about purpose and direction, can help those with similar questions of their own. Do you want to know what your purpose in life is? Will you know what to do once you find it? Though there may be different paths to explore, there is still a common thread between you and Vicki. Regardless if you're a single mom or dad, a person looking for a new career or just want to learn some of the things Vicki went through to attain an affluent level of existence, buy her book, More Than A Housewife, and explore the possibilities that may have eluded you.