The Calamity Club: A Novel

“So immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end.” —Oprah Daily

“A heart-wrenching, often hilarious story of economic hardship, moral posturing, and the particular yearnings of childless women and motherless girls.” —The New York Times

From the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Help comes a bold, deeply moving novel about three unforgettable women who refuse to surrender to the circumstances that have defined their lives—and discover that friendship can give them the courage to fight for a better future.

Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.

Eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur knows what it means to be left behind. Abandoned by her mother on Christmas Eve, Meg has learned never to depend on anyone but herself. Now living at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she has become one of the institution’s so-called “big girls”—children considered too old and too difficult to adopt. Yet beneath her guarded exterior is a fierce determination to survive without allowing the world to break her.

Birdie Calhoun is unmarried, independent-minded, and never afraid to say what she thinks. She arrives in Oxford hoping her wealthy, socially admired sister will help the struggling relatives Birdie has left behind. But the closer she gets to her sister’s polished world, the more she realizes that the beautiful life everyone envies is built on secrets, deception, and carefully maintained appearances.

Then Birdie meets Charlie, a woman whose luck has nearly run out. With little money, few choices, and even less patience for the rules that have kept women powerless, Charlie sees an opportunity where others see only disaster.

When Birdie, Charlie, and Meg’s lives unexpectedly become intertwined, the three women find themselves united by desperation, determination, and a shared refusal to accept the futures society has chosen for them. Charlie devises a daring plan that could give them control over their own lives—but in Depression-era Mississippi, where reputation matters more than truth and a woman’s freedom can disappear with a single accusation, defiance comes at a dangerous price.

Funny, heartbreaking, and fiercely hopeful, The Calamity Club is a sweeping story of unlikely friendship, economic hardship, female resilience, and the courage to challenge a world determined to keep certain women powerless.

Sometimes calamity is not the end of the story.

Sometimes it is where a new beginning starts.