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A trad wife (short for “traditional wife”) is a term used online to describe a woman who embraces traditional gender roles, usually emphasizing homemaking, child-rearing, and supporting a husband who is the primary breadwinner. Here are some books about trad wives and the interesting lives some of them lead.
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Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
A novel where the trad wife trope meets a true crime element. Lizzie and Bex knew each other in college. They were best friends until Lizzie received an email from Bex ending their friendship and leaving her devastated.
Ten years later, Lizzie writes for a woman’s magazine and Bex has rebranded herself as a Rebecca Sommers, “traditional” Instagram influencer. She reaches out to Lizzie for an interview but when Lizzie arrives at the MomBomb-a high profile conference for the trad community-Bex goes missing and her husband is mysteriously murdered. This leaves Lizzie on her own to not only solve the murder but find her friend.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
This novel questions what happens when you can’t hold on to the façade that you so painstakingly created? Natalie Heller Mills is a very successful homesteading and lifestyle influencer with a carefully curated image that she built by her lonesome. She is married to Caleb Mills, a husband with an influential family. With all her success and happiness, what happens when Natalie wakes up in 1855 on her homestead without any of the modern conveniences she’s used to. Will she be able to live in the time period and how will she ever make it back home?
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Camille Deming has the perfect life-she lives in a picture-perfect country farmhouse with her husband. She posts about her lifestyle and supports other women living the tradwife lifestyle. The only thing she’s missing is the one thing that her husband seemingly doesn’t want to give her and that’s a baby. She tries to convince her husband that this would make their life complete—make her feel complete—and one day a mysterious stranger shows up on her doorstep, practically giving her everything she wanted. A baby. Does she accept this gift into her life or does she reject it?
You Were Made for This by Michelle Sacks
Merry, Sam and their baby son Conor have the perfect life in Sweden. Recent transplants from New York, after Sam inherits a house, they seem to fit into the life perfectly. Merry has complete and utter faith in her husband as he always tells her what she should do and tells her what is right. Meanwhile, Merry’s friend, Frank, is invited to visit them. Frank has always been like a sister to Merry, so when Frank visits, she is welcomed by Merry and her husband. She even christens herself as “Aunt Frank” to Conor. However, cracks begin to show as Frank gets a little too close to Conor and Sam. She starts to see that Merry’s portrayal of a happy, stay at home homemaker isn’t all as it seems. And she may be a part of the problem.
About the Author
Tracy doesn't know how to make sourdough like a trad wife but has made cookies before. She also loves working in the library.