The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Downtown Drugstore had a bell on the door that made a single tink sound when you opened it.

-- from The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, which I admit I haven't read, despite its enormous popularity. 

The Calamity Club sounds like the kind of "great yarn" novels I really enjoy. Over 650 or so pages, Stockett tells the story of three women whose "fates converge" in Oxford, Mississippi in 1933. It looks like a winning mix of historical fiction, Southern Gothic, Great Depression, women's friendships, grit, determination, and overcoming adversity. I can't wait to dive in!

(I got my copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. I'm not one for review copies because I don't like the guilt when I don't review it fast enough. But this looked too good to pass up. Fortunately, my copy arrived well after the May 5, 2026 launch date, so I don't have any guilt about reviewing it in June.)

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from The Calamity Club:

My sister's house was very white and very wide and very tall. Six fat columns supported a deep front porch with a dozen black rocking chairs on it.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.

Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she's left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister's seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies. 

Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates--and Meg's--converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan for them to take control of their lives. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women's freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.