Powerful & Heart-Breaking

In The Family Way by Laney Katz Becker is an absolutely heartbreaking novel that consumed me from the start.

The novel takes place in 1965-1966. It is a powerful book about women and their roles and rights in 1960’s America. It is horrifying to see that women were subservient to men. Everything in society was there to promote men and to down grade women.

Women were supposed to be compliant wives and mothers. It was a myth put about by men that women would be fulfilled looking after their husbands, children and the house. Whilst many did want to be wives and mothers, women are also so much more than their domestic roles.

The novel surrounds a group of women – two sisters, their friends and an unwed fifteen-year-old who helps the lead character, Lily, whilst awaiting to give birth in a home for unmarried girls that her mother had sent her to.

Each chapter alternates between the characters as we ‘hear’ of various lives and struggles.

Some women, plus the teen are incredibly ‘innocent’ in the ways of the world. They have been shielded when they really needed to have been educated in the basics of life.

We drop in on several marriages as we see a marriage with a supportive husband; one with an abusive one; and one with financial troubles. The reader’s heart breaks for the various characters who either have an impossible decision to make, or they have dreadful actions forced upon them.

This is a book that surrounds the topics of fertility in its’ many forms including pregnancy, miscarriage, botched back street abortion and unmarried mothers. All are sensitively portrayed. The reader’s heart breaks for the awful situations and attitudes of the times.

In The Family Way is a social commentary on the 1960’s and the role of women. It will educate you as you read as you see just how far the rights of women have improved. It is horrifying to see just how antiquated women’s rights and roles have been in my lifetime.

All the characters were believable and likable.

In The Family Way was such a powerful and all-consuming book. It is a book that will make you think and a book that will break your heart.

I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

JULIA WILSON