11/01/2021
Myers makes a sparkling debut with a coming-of-age tale about the limited opportunities available to the women of a tobacco town. In the spring of 1947, 15-year-old Maddie Sykes assists her seamstress aunt in Bright Leaf, N.C. When Etta is hospitalized with the measles, Maddie takes over Etta’s client list, sewing gowns for the wives of the top tobacco executives. Mitzy Winston, Etta’s most valued customer and wife of Richard Winston, the president of Bright Leaf Tobacco, takes a maternal interest in Maddie and invites her to live in the Winston home. The teen’s initial enchantment with the town—its seemingly happy workers and uniform prosperity—is dashed when she stumbles on a confidential letter in Richard’s study from a doctor who helped create Bright Leaf’s new MOMints cigarettes, marketed for women, which reveals cigarettes are harmful to pregnant women and infants. Maddie then finds out about a cover-up and begins to recognize that the women around her are being unfairly treated, from factory and field workers to the executives’ wives, whose contributions to the businesses go unpaid, and she considers blowing the whistle about the letter. The ending comes a bit too abruptly, but the fabulous fashion descriptions and Maddie’s unwavering determination more than make up for it. Historical fiction fans will be pleased. Agent: Stefanie Leiberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Mar.)
Debut novelist Myers sets her activist novel in 1946, but the causes of workers’ and women’s rights are timeless.
Readers are transported back to 1946 in this fascinatingly rich debut novel…. A vibrant story that sheds light on the lives of women in the post-war period.
[F]ascinating…Myers’s novel is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a lesson in the power of the working class to bring about change.
Myers brilliantly seduces us with her setting—a North Carolina town of beautiful socialites, opulent dresses, and elegant soirees—before revealing a terrible secret that threatens the entire community. This is a story of courage, of women willing to take a stand in the face of corporate greed, and most definitely a tale for our times.
"The future in Bright Leaf seems bright for Maddie Sykes and for the local tobacco wives who can’t get enough of Maddie’s glamorous gowns. But beneath the idyllic surface lie dangerous underpinnings and a choice that will test one young woman’s spirit, forcing her to weigh the relative value of profits and people. A beautifully rendered portrait of a young woman finding her courage and her voice."
[F]ascinating…Myers’s novel is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a lesson in the power of the working class to bring about change.
Debut novelist Myers sets her activist novel in 1946, but the causes of workers’ and women’s rights are timeless.
With an atmosphere so thick you could blow it out in smoke rings, Adele Myers vividly conjures post war North Carolina, where ladies wear matching hats and gloves and no one questions the supremacy of the all-powerful tobacco leaf—except one young woman, trying to find her place in the world, torn between conflicting loyalties. A thoroughly immersive and engaging read!
The Tobacco Wives is a sweep-you-away story with a lush North Carolina setting and a courageous woman at its center. What more do we want from a story than this? Myers’s prose is stitched together as beautifully as the fancy dresses her protagonist Maddie Sykes sews for the elite women of this tobacco town. The question at the heart of this novel trembles with power—what happens when what we know is right conflicts with what we are being told is true? Myers’s story will resonate long after you turn the last page; powerful and authentic, The Tobacco Wives is unforgettable."
North Carolina native Myers mines her family history while incorporating extensive research on Big Tobacco in this chilling exposé…. The novel’s message resonates today.
The semi-autobiographical The Tobacco Wives is a first novel and a tour-de-force. Myers evokes the postwar world with deftly-drawn believable characters, and a real-life situation that highlights women’s activism and the toxic lies of a major industry.
Adele Myers brings mid-century North Carolina vividly to life in her impressive, beautifully detailed debut novel, The Tobacco Wives, a suspenseful coming-of-age story of a brave young woman’s search for dangerous truths obscured by corporate deceit and betrayal.
10/01/2021
In 1947, Maddie Sykes joins her aunt's flourishing sewing business in Bright Leaf, NC, the tobacco capital of the South, and soon becomes lead dressmaker for the town's most important women. She's puzzled, though, by the spate of illnesses troubling these women, and as she discovers its cause, she's in a bind: how can she challenge Big Tobacco, which rules the town and its fortunes? Debuter Myers gets a 100,000-copy first printing.
Fascinating…Myers’s novel is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a lesson in the power of the working class to bring about change.” — Washington Post
"A vibrant and warm book that feels easy to pick up and hard to put down." — Buzzfeed
“Readers are transported back to 1946 in this fascinatingly rich debut novel…. A vibrant story that sheds light on the lives of women in the post-war period.” — Woman's World
“Moving…A winning debut that reveals how our past is always with us.” — Toronto Star
“Myers brilliantly seduces us with her setting—a North Carolina town of beautiful socialites, opulent dresses, and elegant soirees—before revealing a terrible secret that threatens the entire community. This is a story of courage, of women willing to take a stand in the face of corporate greed, and most definitely a tale for our times.” — Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
“A sparkling debut… Historical fiction fans will be pleased.” — Publishers Weekly
“The Tobacco Wives is a sweep-you-away story with a lush North Carolina setting and a courageous woman at its center. What more do we want from a story than this? Myers’s prose is stitched together as beautifully as the fancy dresses her protagonist Maddie Sykes sews for the elite women of this tobacco town. The question at the heart of this novel trembles with power—what happens when what we know is right conflicts with what we are being told is true? Myers’s story will resonate long after you turn the last page; powerful and authentic, The Tobacco Wives is unforgettable." — Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savannah
“Debut novelist Myers sets her activist novel in 1946, but the causes of workers’ and women’s rights are timeless.” — Booklist
"The future in Bright Leaf seems bright for Maddie Sykes and for the local tobacco wives who can’t get enough of Maddie’s glamorous gowns. But beneath the idyllic surface lie dangerous underpinnings and a choice that will test one young woman’s spirit, forcing her to weigh the relative value of profits and people. A beautifully rendered portrait of a young woman finding her courage and her voice." — Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours
"The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers puts the strong bonds between women in the post-WWII era front and center.” — Popsugar
“Adele Myers brings mid-century North Carolina vividly to life in her impressive, beautifully detailed debut novel, The Tobacco Wives, a suspenseful coming-of-age story of a brave young woman’s search for dangerous truths obscured by corporate deceit and betrayal.” — Jennifer Chiaverini, New York Times bestselling author of Resistance Women
“With an atmosphere so thick you could blow it out in smoke rings, Adele Myers vividly conjures post war North Carolina, where ladies wear matching hats and gloves and no one questions the supremacy of the all-powerful tobacco leaf—except one young woman, trying to find her place in the world, torn between conflicting loyalties. A thoroughly immersive and engaging read!” — Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author of Band of Sisters
"The Tobacco Wives is a perfect example of the kind of historical fiction I love best: a story firmly grounded in the past that still feels powerfully resonant today. In Adele Myers's capable hands, post-WW2 North Carolinathe tobacco capital of the Southcomes alive in technicolor, with all the glamour of Southern society, as well as a hidden underbelly of dangerous secrets and lies. We're along for the satisfying journey as Maddie Sykesa plucky 16-year-old who has faced more loss than anyone deserveslearns what she's made of and tries to summon the courage to stand up to people who could make or break the rest of her life. A powerful debut and coming-of-age story rich in pitch-perfect dialogue and detail, The Tobacco Wives will transport you to Big Tobacco's golden age just as it begins to unraveland remind you that we all have the power to stand up and fight for the things that are right." — Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names and The Forest of Vanishing Stars
“North Carolina native Myers mines her family history while incorporating extensive research on Big Tobacco in this chilling exposé…. The novel’s message resonates today.” — Historical Novel Society
“[A]n authentic rendering of small-time Southern life in the '40s as well as an engrossing depiction of the power of female connections. Perfect for Lisa Wingate fans.” — The Augusta Chronicle
"[A] sparkling debut." — Arlington Magazine
“The semi-autobiographical The Tobacco Wives is a first novel and a tour-de-force. Myers evokes the postwar world with deftly-drawn believable characters, and a real-life situation that highlights women’s activism and the toxic lies of a major industry.” — AuthorLink
"A vibrant and warm book that feels easy to pick up and hard to put down."
"The Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers puts the strong bonds between women in the post-WWII era front and center.”
03/01/2022
In this coming-of-age novel about a teenage seamstress versus Big Tobacco in 1946, 15-year-old Maddie Sykes is a woman ahead of her time. A talented seamstress, she is put in the exalted position of designing gowns for the wives of the tobacco executives to keep her aunt's business afloat. When she catches the eye of the wife of the owner of Bright Leaf Tobacco, Maddie is not only designing outfits for galas but attending them herself. Then she reads about a study showing that tobacco may be unsafe, particularly for pregnant women, yet a new cigarette is being marketed to them. Will Maddie be able to change the tobacco industry without destroying everything that Bright Leaf, NC, is built on? The narration by Shannon McManus and Janet Metzger depicts a Maddie older than her years yet still an idealistic child. Her lovely Southern accent has tremors of insecurity, interspersed with teeth-grinding stubbornness. The "tobacco wives" and other women are characterized with mature voices, smooth as silk and commensurate with their stations, yet still distinct. Maddie cannot go up against the establishment and win. However, it is a satisfying story and delightful to the ear. VERDICT Libraries will want to purchase this debut historical novel.—Jodi L. Israel