The Women's Room

The twenty-one-million copy bestseller—available again for a new generation of readers Originally published in 1977, The Women’s Room was a novel that—for the first time—expressed the inner lives of women who left education and professional advancement behind to marry in the 1950s, only to find themselves adrift and unable to support themselves after divorce in the 1970s. Some became destitute, a few went insane. But many went back to school in the heyday of the Women’s Liberation movement, and were swept up in the promise of equality for both sexes. Marilyn French’s characters represent this wide cross section of American women, and her wry and pointed voice gives depth and emotional intensity to this timeless book that remains controversial and completely relevant.

Marilyn French is a bestselling author and a feminist scholar. She has published more than a dozen works of literary criticism, history, memoir, and fiction, and has been awarded a Harvard Centennial Medal.

Dorothy Allison is the acclaimed author of the nationally bestselling novel Bastard Out of Carolina, which was a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award.

Linsey Abrams has published three novels, Charting the Stars, Double Vision, and Our History in New York. She directs the MFA program in creative writing at the City College of New York.