The instant #1 New York Times bestseller — Kathryn Stockett's triumphant return, seventeen years after The Help sold fifteen million copies worldwide.
Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. The Depression has the town by the throat, and three women have run out of ways to play by the rules.
Eleven-year-old Meg, one of the unadoptable “big girls” at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her social-climbing sister to help the struggling family she left behind — only to discover her sister's charmed life is a tapestry of lies. And Charlie is a woman with a past, running low on luck but driven by fire, fury and grit.
When their fates converge, they come up with an audacious plan to take back control of their lives. Together they form an unlikely sisterhood — but in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife, women's freedom is fragile, and making an enemy can have dire consequences, will the price of their outrageous risk-taking be too high?
Praise
“So immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end.” — Oprah Daily
“A heart-wrenching, often hilarious story of economic hardship, moral posturing, and the particular yearnings of childless women and motherless girls.” — The New York Times
“Joyful, heartbreaking, heartwarming. I loved it so much.” — Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
“A must-read.” — Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry
About the author
Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Her first novel, The Help, sold over fifteen million copies, was translated into thirty-five languages, and became an Oscar-winning film. The Calamity Club — named a most-anticipated book of 2026 by the New York Times, Oprah Daily, Goodreads and a dozen more — is her second novel.
Perfect for readers of
The Help, Lessons in Chemistry, Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing — and every book club looking for its next big argument-starter. 656 pages you'll wish were longer.
