“The Wednesday Sisters look like the kind of women who
might meet at those fancy coffee shops on University --- we do
look that way --- but we’re not one bit fancy, and
we’re not sisters, either. We don’t even meet on
Wednesdays anymore, although we did at the beginning.”

So begins Meg Waite Clayton’s lyrical novel of the
friendships forged among five different women who come together by
chance. In the tumultuous years of the late 1960s, many females
were involved in protest marches opposing the war or fighting for
the women’s movement. But in suburban Palo Alto, five ladies
came together primarily because of their children. Being a mother
is the first thing they had in common when they met at Pardee Park
in those early days. Soon after, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett and
Ally discovered that they all shared a love of books and a secret
wish to write themselves. For Frankie --- a recent transplant from
Chicago, with her husband and two kids --- to utter a desire out
loud, even among friends, was terrifying: “It doesn’t
seem like much now, I know, to admit ambition to your closest
friends. I guess you’ll have to take my word for it: it
was. It makes me a little sad when I look back on it, to think
how very many women didn’t have Wednesday Sisters, to wonder
who they might have become if they had.”

In admitting their passion for writing, the “Wednesday
Sisters” begin to nourish lifelong bonds among themselves
that transcend their literary goals. Linda, the frank, sometimes
tactless one, lives with the fear that the disease that took her
mother when she was young might do the same to her: “I grew
up the child of a sick mother, and then the child of a dead mother.
I couldn’t imagine going back to that. I couldn’t
imagine putting my kids through that.” Kath is a spitfire
Southern belle dealing with issues in her complicated marriage.
Brett is the ladylike brain, always attired in white gloves that
conceal a hidden tragedy from her past. Ally is demure and
soft-spoken, crumbling under the weight of fertility issues, who
desperately wants to write a children’s book to rival
CHARLOTTE’S WEB.

When they first begin to meet on that playground, as their children
play around them, each is taking a decisive step to move past her
fears and express herself through writing. And in the words of
Robin Morgan’s seminal anthology from that time, they prove
that “Sisterhood is Powerful.” As they gain
confidence in their writing and critiquing ability, they notice
they are beginning to turn their keen eyes on the world that is
changing all around them.

From the outset, they gather to watch the Miss America Pageant each
year. At first, they enjoy it as frothy entertainment, but later
they witness how the women’s movement has affected this
annual event, even their own opinions of femininity and what it
means to be female. Through their weekly meetings and unwavering
support, each faces moments when she flourishes and, yes, sometimes
flounders. And each is buoyed by the others’ strength and
fortitude, through some of life’s most difficult obstacles.
Their little writing group has blossomed into something more --- it
has become the foundation of lifelong friendships.

Meg Waite Clayton’s stirring novel will appeal not just to
those who secretly wish to be writers, but to anyone with a love of
great books; anyone who has felt truly moved by a book or an
author; and anyone who has had their dreams bolstered by good and
faithful friends. It will speak volumes to fans of THE FRIDAY NIGHT
KNITTING CLUB and THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB. You’ll want to
share THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS with anyone who believes in the power
of a good book --- to inspire those close to us, and for those who
inspire.