"The Saturday Evening Girls Club" by Jane Healey

The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healey
Call Number: FICTION Healey
In Boston's North End, four immigrant women leave childhood behind--but never one another. For four young immigrant women living in Boston's North End in the early 1900s, escaping tradition doesn't come easy. But at least they have one another and the Saturday Evening Girls Club, a social pottery-making group offering respite from their hectic home lives--and hope for a better future. Ambitious Caprice dreams of opening her own hat shop, which clashes with the expectations of her Sicilian-born parents. Brilliant Ada secretly takes college classes despite the disapproval of her Russian Jewish father. Stunning Maria could marry anyone yet guards her heart to avoid the fate of her Italian Catholic mother, broken down by an alcoholic husband. And shy Thea is torn between asserting herself and embracing an antiquated Jewish tradition. The friends face family clashes and romantic entanglements, career struggles and cultural prejudice. But through their unfailing bond, forged through their weekly gathering, they'll draw strength--and the courage to transform their immigrant stories into the American lives of their dreams.

Immigrant Experience:
- Explore how the novel portrays the immigrant experience in early 20th-century America, particularly through the perspectives of the four main characters: Caprice, Maria, Thea, and Ada. What challenges do they face as immigrants, and how do they navigate cultural differences and expectations?
Friendship and Community:
- Discuss the significance of the Saturday Evening Girls Club in the lives of the four main characters. How does their friendship provide support, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging in a new and sometimes hostile environment?
- Consider how the broader immigrant community in the North End serves as a source of support and solidarity for the characters.
Gender Roles and Expectations:
- Analyze the ways in which gender roles and expectations shape the lives of the female characters in the novel. How do Caprice, Maria, Thea, and Ada navigate societal expectations and restrictions placed on women during this time period?
- Discuss how the characters challenge or conform to traditional gender roles in their pursuit of education, career aspirations, and personal fulfillment.
Identity and Assimilation:
- Explore the characters' struggles with identity and assimilation. How do they reconcile their cultural heritage with the desire to adapt and integrate into American society?
- Consider how the characters' experiences of discrimination and prejudice shape their sense of self and their relationships with others.
Social Issues and Historical Context:
- The novel touches on various social issues of the time, including women's rights, labor rights, and immigration policies. Discuss how these issues are portrayed in the narrative and their relevance to contemporary society.
- How do the characters engage with activism and social change, both individually and collectively?
Family Dynamics:
- Examine the dynamics of family relationships within the novel, particularly the relationships between the four main characters and their families. How do familial expectations and obligations impact the characters' choices and aspirations?
- Discuss the ways in which the characters negotiate their desires for independence and autonomy within the context of their familial responsibilities.
Personal Growth and Resilience:
- Trace the personal growth and development of the four main characters throughout the novel. How do they overcome obstacles and challenges to pursue their dreams and aspirations?
- Discuss instances of resilience and perseverance demonstrated by the characters in the face of adversity.
Narrative Structure and Themes:
- Reflect on the novel's structure and how it contributes to the exploration of themes such as friendship, identity, and belonging.
- Consider how the alternating perspectives of the four main characters enrich the narrative and provide insight into their individual experiences and perspectives.
Historical Accuracy and Research:
- Discuss the author's research process and the historical accuracy of the novel. How does the portrayal of early 20th-century Boston reflect the socio-cultural context of the time?
- Explore any historical events or figures referenced in the novel and their significance to the story.
Legacy and Reflection:
- Reflect on the novel's ending and the characters' journeys. How do the experiences of Caprice, Maria, Thea, and Ada shape their futures and leave a lasting impact on their lives and communities?
- Discuss the enduring themes and messages of the novel and their relevance to contemporary readers.

Jane Healey is the author of The Beantown Girls, a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller, The Secret Stealers, which was an Amazon First Reads Editor’s Pick and a Historical Novel Society’s Editors’ Choice, and her debut, The Saturday Evening Girls Club. Goodnight from Paris is her newly released novel from Lake Union Publishing. Jane is also the host of Historical Happy Hour, a webinar and podcast featuring interviews with premier historical fiction authors and their latest novels. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, two daughters, cats and a dog.

Jane Healey has given presentations about the history behind her novels to hundreds of libraries, book clubs and organizations around the country, including through the Jewish Book Council Network and the American Red Cross.

Home for Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler
Call Number: FICTION Kibler
In turn-of-the-20th century Texas, the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls is a beacon of hope for young women consigned to the streets by birth, circumstance, or personal tragedy. Built in 1903 on the dusty outskirts of Arlington, the progressive home bucks public opinion by offering faith, training, and rehabilitation to prostitutes, addicts, unwed mothers, and "ruined" girls without forcibly separating mothers from children. When Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride meet there, they form a friendship that will see them through unbearable loss, heartbreak, difficult choices, and ultimately, diverging paths. A century later Cate Sutton, a university librarian, uncovers their stories, and is led her to confront her own heartbreaking past.
A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
Call Number: FICTION Rum
Palestine, 1990. Seventeen-year-old Isra prefers reading books to entertaining the suitors her father has chosen for her. Over the course of a week, the naïve and dreamy girl finds herself quickly betrothed and married, and is soon living in Brooklyn. There Isra struggles to adapt to the expectations of her oppressive mother-in-law Fareeda and strange new husband Adam, a pressure that intensifies as she begins to have children -- four daughters instead of the sons Fareeda tells Isra she must bear. Brooklyn, 2008. Eighteen-year-old Deya, Isra's oldest daughter, must meet with potential husbands at her grandmother Fareeda's insistence, though her only desire is to go to college. Deya can't help but wonder if her options would have been different had her parents survived the car crash that killed them when Deya was only eight. But her grandmother is firm on the matter: the only way to secure a worthy future for Deya is through marriage to the right man. But fate has a will of its own, and soon Deya will find herself on an unexpected path that leads her to shocking truths about her family -- knowledge that will force her to question everything she thought she knew about her parents, the past, and her own future. Set in an America at once foreign to many and staggeringly close at hand, A Woman Is No Man is a story of culture and honor, secrets and betrayals, love and violence. It is an intimate glimpse into a controlling and closed cultural world, and a universal tale about family and the ways silence and shame can destroy those we have sworn to protect.
The Next Ship Home by Heather Webb
Call Number: FICTION Webb
Ellis Island, 1902: Two women band together to hold America to its promise: "Give me your tired, your poor ... your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." A young Italian woman arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life. That same day, a young American woman reports to her first day of work at the immigration center. But Ellis Island isn't a refuge for Francesca or Alma, not when ships depart every day with those who are refused entry to the country and when corruption ripples through every corridor. While Francesca resorts to desperate measures to ensure she will make it off the island, Alma fights for her dreams of becoming a translator, even as women are denied the chance. As the two women face the misdeeds of a system known to manipulate and abuse immigrants searching for new hope in America, they form an unlikely friendship--and share a terrible secret--altering their fates and the lives of the immigrants who come after them.
White Ivy by Susie Yang
Call Number: FICTION Yang
A young woman's crush on a privileged former classmate becomes a story of love, lies, and dark obsession, offering stark insights into the immigrant experience, as it hurtles to its electrifying ending. Ivy Lin is a thief and a liar--but you'd never know it by looking at her. Raised outside of Boston, Ivy's immigrant grandmother relies on Ivy's mild appearance for cover as she teaches her granddaughter how to pilfer items from yard sales and second-hand shops. Thieving allows Ivy to accumulate the trappings of a suburban teen--and, most importantly, to attract the attention of Gideon Speyer, the golden boy of a wealthy political family. But when Ivy's mother discovers her trespasses, punishment is swift and Ivy is sent to China, and her dream instantly evaporates. Years later, Ivy has grown into a poised yet restless young woman, haunted by her conflicting feelings about her upbringing and her family. Back in Boston, when Ivy bumps into Sylvia Speyer, Gideon's sister, a reconnection with Gideon seems not only inevitable--it feels like fate. Slowly, Ivy sinks her claws into Gideon and the entire Speyer clan by attending fancy dinners, and weekend getaways to the cape. But just as Ivy is about to have everything she's ever wanted, a ghost from her past resurfaces, threatening the nearly perfect life she's worked so hard to build.
The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights by Kitty Zeldis
Call Number: FICTION Zeldis
Brooklyn, 1924. As New York City enters the jazz age, the lives of three very different women are about to converge in unexpected ways. Recently arrived from New Orleans, Beatrice is working to establish a chic new dress shop with help from Alice, the orphaned teenage ward she brought north with her. Down the block, newlywed Catherine is restless in her elegant brownstone, longing for a baby she cannot conceive. When Bea befriends Catherine and the two start to become close, Alice feels abandoned and envious, and runs away to Manhattan. Her departure sets into motion a series of events that will force each woman to confront the painful secrets of her past in order to move into the happier future she seeks. Moving from the bustling streets of early twentieth century New York City to late nineteenth-century Russia and the lively quarters of New Orleans in the 1910s, The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights is a story of the families we are born into and the families we choose, and of the unbreakable bonds between women.

Islington Branch Book Club - Past Titles: "The Saturday Evening Girls Club" by Jane Healey

"The Saturday Evening Girls Club" by Jane Healey

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