The Divorcées

Reviews

A Most Anticipated Book (Entertainment Weekly, Elle, Today.com, Goodreads, Good Housekeeping, Chicago Review of Books, BookBub, Paste, Zibby Mag)

“Beaird digs into the idiosyncrasies of midcentury Reno, Nevada, when it was the divorce capital of the world in this journey into an oft-untapped era in fiction…Through the eyes of a more glamorous world, Beaird examines the true meaning of friendship and freedom.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Unforgettable.”
—Good Housekeeping

“In The Divorcées, the 1950s-era women deposited at the Golden Yarrow are waiting out the six-week residency that the state of Nevada requires for divorce, only for one of them (the aforementioned Lois) to encounter the entrancing Greer Lang. Their ensuing trip through sun-baked desert and neon-lit casinos tempts Lois to shed the restraints of her former self—even if she isn’t sure who she’ll be on the other side.”
—Elle

“An eye-opening and unforgettable read about the lives whose stories were frequently left untold…It immediately marks Beaird as a writer to watch for years to come.”
—Chicago Review of Books

“This complex story of female friendship is set at a 1950s ‘divorce ranch’ in Reno, where women can file to leave their husbands after six weeks of Nevada residency. We stan women seizing their own agency in any era.”
—Paste

“Beaird shines in her impressive debut about a group of divorcées-to-be in 1950s Reno, Nevada…Readers will eagerly follow Beaird’s skillful plotting and appealing characters all the way through the final page. This author is one to watch.”
—Publishers Weekly

"Though it’s filled with colorful imagery, dark green dresses and burgundy lips, Beaird’s debut has the hypnotic pacing and dramatic ambience of an old black-and-white film. Her research about the divorce-ranch phenomenon and its period expresses itself in myriad small, compelling details...A transporting psychological novel of friendship and betrayal, with the moody period feel of a Hitchcock film."
—Kirkus

“This is the novel I've always wanted to read about divorce in midcentury America: the glamour and underbelly of Reno's divorce ranches, the support of female friendship, and the impossibility (and glorious possibilities) of starting over as a single woman. The Divorcées is a delicious literary page-turner from a fierce new voice.”
—Rebecca Makkai, New York Times bestselling author of I Have Some Questions for You and The Great Believers

“The Divorcées is gorgeously crafted, perfectly balanced, and full of complex, moving and vividly wrought characters. The sunshot pool at the Golden Yarrow, the searing desert heat, the dark glamour of the casinos will stay with me for a long time. Rowan Beaird writes with such ease and confidence that it's hard to believe this novel is her first. An excellent, deeply compelling read.”
—Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies

“A stunning debut, Rowan Beaird’s The Divorcées is a glittering desert mirage behind which lurks a shocking web of secrets. Despite the new friendships and lives being built at the Golden Yarrow, each woman on the ranch harbors a truth they aren’t willing to share: that they’re playing a part and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep the fiction alive. Tense, dark, and richly layered, lovers of Patricia Highsmith will devour this compulsively readable, standout novel."
—Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters

“The Divorcées is my favorite kind of novel: a beautifully written, wholly immersive exploration of the performances women employ for survival. Set amid the heady glamour of Reno’s divorce ranches, The Divorcées mines what we will do for acceptance, belonging, and the privilege of carving out a life for ourselves. Rowan Beaird writes with both deep compassion and merciless precision—a fierce talent.”
—Katie Gutierrez, national bestselling author of More Than You’ll Ever Know

“The Divorcées, a sultry fever dream of a novel set on a Reno divorce ranch in the 1950s, should be read by a pool on a blisteringly hot day, preferably with a drink in hand. Its lush, perfectly wrought prose—and the secrets and deceptions at the center of the seductive plot—will unsettle you and keep you turning the pages. This book shimmers and startles on every page.”
—Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light

“LOVED it. Tightly-plotted elegance, 50s glamour and suspense. Put it on your lists!”
―Jessie Burton, New York Times bestselling author of The Miniaturist

“If Patricia Highsmith and George Cukor teamed up to reimagine Thelma and Louise, it might look something like this smoldering, addictive, and beguiling novel of women on the verge. Whether they're on the verge of dissolution, liberation, or some fraught state in-between, Rowan Beaird captures their becoming in prose that thrums with an anxious and defiant eros. A knockout of a debut.”
—Christopher Castellani, author of Leading Men

“The women of The Divorcées captivated me: drenched in desert light, searching for themselves in every possible mirror. Their relationships to one another, gorgeously rendered, have an intensity fueled by self-discovery—these are connections full of deep understanding, shocking deception, devastating betrayal, and real love. Beaird is a wondrous new talent who has given us an unforgettable, lushly assured novel.”
—Clare Beams, author of The Illness Lesson

“The alluring and fascinating backdrop of a divorce ranch for women in the '50s is reason enough to dive into Rowan Beaird’s stunning debut novel, The Divorcees, but that is just the beginning. This beautifully crafted, suspenseful journey of secrets and intrigue will hold readers spellbound.”
—Jill McCorkle, New York Times bestselling author of Hieroglyphics and Life After Life

“I straight up loved it. It's so stylish, so elegant, each sentence a delectable little treat…and the nods towards darkness and things unravelling are so thrilling and chicly done.”
―Elizabeth Macneal, #1 international bestselling author of The Doll Factory

“I adored The Divorcées —such an atmospheric and layered story of female independence, solidarity and deception, set on a Reno ‘divorce ranch’ in 1951. As a divorcée, I devoured it.”
―Julie Mae Cohen, international bestselling author of Bad Men