The Calamity Club
- Judith D Collins
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
By: Kathryn Stockett
Narrators: Jenna Lamia, January LaVoy
Spotify Audiobooks
ISBN: 9781954118812
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Publication Date: 05/05/2026
Format: Other
My Rating: Currently Reading (ARC):
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES, GOODREADS, TOWN & COUNTRY, MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, GARDEN & GUN, AARP, WOMAN’S WORLD, COUNTRY LIVING, AND OPRAH DAILY
“So immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end.”—Oprah Daily
The multimillion-copy-selling author of The Help returns with a bold, big-hearted novel about a group of unbreakable women, fighting for what’s rightfully theirs—and the power of friendship to change everything.
Oxford, Mississippi, 1933.
Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed.
Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister’s seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.
Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman running low on luck with little left to lose. When their fates—and Meg’s—converge, Charlie comes up with an audacious plan to claim what’s rightfully theirs. But in a place and time where hypocrisy is rife and women’s freedom is fragile, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences.
The Calamity Club will make you laugh, cry, and cheer—an epic testament to underestimated women who know that calamity can be the spark of new beginnings. This is Kathryn Stockett at her most confident, heartfelt, and hilarious—the triumphant return of one of the most beloved storytellers of our time.
Praise for The Calamity Club:
A New York Times Book Everyone Will Be Talking about in 2026
An Oprah Daily Best Book of Spring 2026
A Goodreads Readers’ Most Anticipated Book of 2026
A Garden & Gun Most Anticipated Book of 2026
A Woman’s World Book Everyone Will Be Talking about in 2026
A Town & Country Most Anticipated Book of Spring
An AARP Spring Preview
A Minnesota Star-Tribune 2026 Preview
A Country Living Book to Curl Up on the Porch with this Spring
A New York Post Buzzy Book to Read This Spring
A New York Times Novel We're Excited About This Spring
“Smart, funny, and driven by unforgettable characters whose opinions and actions leap off the page, this is a must-read.”
—Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry
“So immersive, exciting, and downright fabulous, you never want it to end.”
—Oprah Daily
“As witty, bold, and transportive as it is heartbreaking and compassionate, The Calamity Club is storytelling at its finest. Stockett’s masterfully drawn characters are simply unforgettable. Bravo to Meg, Birdie, and Charlie for reminding us to never underestimate the bottomless resilience of smart, spirited women in revolt against circumstance and injustice.”
—Shelley Read, internationally bestselling author of Go as a River
“Compulsively readable . . . A satisfyingly twisty tale . . . Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.”
—Kirkus
“Stockett’s vibrant follow-up to her bestselling 2009 novel, The Help, traces the intersecting lives of an exasperated older sister, a precocious orphan, and an enterprising woman in 1933 Mississippi. . . . By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this offers a memorable view into the impossible choices faced by women in the Great Depression.”—Publishers Weekly
“The enormous success of The Help as a novel and as the source for the Academy Award–winning film has left readers longing for Stockett's second novel. . . . As she did in The Help, Stockett again satirizes the hypocrisy underpinning much of the early-twentieth-century South in a saga populated with memorable characters who rely on stock-in-trade pluck and sass to right all wrongs.”
—Booklist
“A big-hearted tale packed with plenty of details about life in the South during the lead-up to the Great Depression.”
—Country Living
Praise for The Help:
“The two principal maid characters . . . leap off the page in all their warm, three dimensional glory. . . . [A] winning novel.”
—The New York Times
“This could be one of the most important pieces of fiction since To Kill a Mockingbird. . . . If you read only one book . . . let this be it.”
“Wise, poignant . . . You’ll catch yourself cheering out loud.”
—People
“Graceful and real, a compulsively readable story.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“A beautiful portrait of a fragmenting world.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“The must-read choice of every book club in the country.”
—The Huffington Post
“At turns hilarious and heart-warming.”—Associated Press
“In a page-turner that brings new resonance to the moral issues involved, Stockett spins a story of a social awakening as seen from both sides of the American racial divide.”
—The Washington Post
About the Author
Kathryn Stockett was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Alabama, she moved to New York City, where she worked in magazine publishing and marketing for nine years. Her first novel, The Help, has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
