What do you think?
Rate this book
Divining Women
Autumn 1918: Rumors of peace are spreading across America, but spreading even faster are the first cases of Spanish influenza, whispering of the epidemic to come. Maureen Ross, well past a safe childbearing age, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. Her husband, Troop-cold and careless of her condition-is an emotional cripple who has battered her spirit throughout their marriage. As Maureen's time grows near, she becomes convinced she will die in childbirth. Into this loveless ménage arrives Mary Oliver, Troop's niece. The sheltered child of a well-to-do, freethinking Washington family, Mary comes to help Maureen in the last weeks of her confinement. Horrified by Troop's bullying, she soon discovers that her true duty is to protect her aunt.
As the influenza spreads and the death toll grows, Troop's spiteful behaviors worsen. Tormenting his wife, taunting her for her "low birth," hiding her mother's letters, Troop terrorizes the household. But when Mary fights back, he begins to go over the edge, and Maureen rallies, releasing a stunning thunderstorm of confrontation and, ultimately, finding spiritual renewal.
As the influenza spreads and the death toll grows, Troop's spiteful behaviors worsen. Tormenting his wife, taunting her for her "low birth," hiding her mother's letters, Troop terrorizes the household. But when Mary fights back, he begins to go over the edge, and Maureen rallies, releasing a stunning thunderstorm of confrontation and, ultimately, finding spiritual renewal.
205 pages, Paperback
First published March 22, 2004
20 people are currently reading
830 people want to read
About the author
Kaye Gibbons
45 books576 followersKaye Gibbons is an American novelist. Her first novel, Ellen Foster (1987), received the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, a Special Citation from the Ernest Hemingway Foundation and the Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Prize in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gibbons is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and two of her books, Ellen Foster and A Virtuous Woman, were selected for Oprah's Book Club in 1998.
Gibbons was born in Nash County, North Carolina, and went to Rocky Mount Senior High School. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. She has three daughters.
Gibbons has bipolar disorder and notes that she is extremely creative during her manic phases, in which she believes that everything is instrumented by a "real magic". Ellen Foster was written during one such phase.
On November 2, 2008, Gibbons was arrested on prescription drug fraud charges. According to authorities, she was taken into custody while trying to pick up a fraudulent prescription for the painkiller hydrocodone. She was sentenced to a 90-day suspended sentence, 2 years probation, and a $300 fine.
Gibbons was born in Nash County, North Carolina, and went to Rocky Mount Senior High School. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. She has three daughters.
Gibbons has bipolar disorder and notes that she is extremely creative during her manic phases, in which she believes that everything is instrumented by a "real magic". Ellen Foster was written during one such phase.
On November 2, 2008, Gibbons was arrested on prescription drug fraud charges. According to authorities, she was taken into custody while trying to pick up a fraudulent prescription for the painkiller hydrocodone. She was sentenced to a 90-day suspended sentence, 2 years probation, and a $300 fine.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
May 9, 2021
Less said the better. Strange book filled with nasty, quirky mores. Stereotyped bad guy husband with a depressive answered ending. Mary didn't bridge the pieces in her own character to make the novel a whole. Some continuity became totally loss at least twice.
Loved some of hers but this was definitely not one.
Loved some of hers but this was definitely not one.
June 8, 2019
Audiobook read by the author.
3.5***
In 1918 Mary Oliver, the child of well-to-do and somewhat liberal parents and raised in Washington DC, goes to spend time with her uncle Troop Ross, and his wife Maureen, who is expecting her first child. They live in small town in North Carolina, on a property a little out of town. Mary quickly learns that Troop is a bully, keeping his wife isolated, belittling her concerns, and threatening to put her in an asylum if she doesn’t shape up. The Spanish influenza epidemic further isolates the women, but also strengthens their resolve.
I have been a fan of Gibbons’ writing since the 1990s. For a time, I was devouring every one of her books; and I’ve read several of them more than once. But somehow, I missed this book until now.
I like the way Gibbons writes her characters. There are some very unpleasant goings on, and much of it makes me in turns uncomfortable, despairing, and angry. I was rather irritated with Mary for a time, feeling that she was butting in where she had no business. But as it became clear how much control Troop exerted over Maureen, I began to cheer for Mary’s involvement. This is at a time when women had few rights on their own, and yet Mary refused to be cowed by her uncle. And her strength empowered Maureen to fight for the freedom and respect she was due. Brava, ladies!
Gibbons narrates the audiobook herself. I really did not like her performance at all. She showed little emotion and it seemed like a student reading aloud because she was required to do so. Only 1 star for her performance on the audio. I think I’ll pick this up again at a later date and read it in text format.
3.5***
In 1918 Mary Oliver, the child of well-to-do and somewhat liberal parents and raised in Washington DC, goes to spend time with her uncle Troop Ross, and his wife Maureen, who is expecting her first child. They live in small town in North Carolina, on a property a little out of town. Mary quickly learns that Troop is a bully, keeping his wife isolated, belittling her concerns, and threatening to put her in an asylum if she doesn’t shape up. The Spanish influenza epidemic further isolates the women, but also strengthens their resolve.
I have been a fan of Gibbons’ writing since the 1990s. For a time, I was devouring every one of her books; and I’ve read several of them more than once. But somehow, I missed this book until now.
I like the way Gibbons writes her characters. There are some very unpleasant goings on, and much of it makes me in turns uncomfortable, despairing, and angry. I was rather irritated with Mary for a time, feeling that she was butting in where she had no business. But as it became clear how much control Troop exerted over Maureen, I began to cheer for Mary’s involvement. This is at a time when women had few rights on their own, and yet Mary refused to be cowed by her uncle. And her strength empowered Maureen to fight for the freedom and respect she was due. Brava, ladies!
Gibbons narrates the audiobook herself. I really did not like her performance at all. She showed little emotion and it seemed like a student reading aloud because she was required to do so. Only 1 star for her performance on the audio. I think I’ll pick this up again at a later date and read it in text format.
October 1, 2011
Kaye Gibbons is one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint. It's a lovely story about women finding their independence, women supporting each other, and women finding their own inner strength. It's also a story about the men who love and support those women, or tear them down.
There is something about the quiet subtlety in Kaye's writing that I really enjoy. This book both moved me and amused me. I thought it was great.
There is something about the quiet subtlety in Kaye's writing that I really enjoy. This book both moved me and amused me. I thought it was great.
June 3, 2011
This did not work for me. The period detail was, as far as I know, accurate. The lifestyle of the main character’s family was vividly rendered. In fact, I liked the idea of the plot all around, and it could have been done very well. The concept was solid, but the execution was flawed.
To say that the male character who is the villain of this work was set up as a straw man is a staggering piece of understatement. This man’s capacity for inflicting humiliation and abuse, his intense narcissism—it was all so heavy-handed as to draw me out of the book entirely. When Maureen, the wife, began to stand up to him, it became even worse. She would give him these retorts, which for some reason always left him speechless; yet, they were not strong. They were not eloquent. They sounded like the feminist fan-fiction rantings of a fourteen-year-old, who creates a male character who spouts offensive things so that she can deliver these self-righteous diatribes in the voice of her lady protagonist.
I’m all for tearing down patriarchal idols, rewriting history to foreground the woman’s story, and so on. When women have been oppressed and beaten down (figuratively and literally, politically, socially, bodily) for centuries and continue to be so to this day, yes, I want to continue to hear their stories. In fact, I want to witness their redemptive, “screw you” moment when they tell their oppressor that he just won’t get to be one any more. But it has to feel like reality; it has to not strategically disarm the oppressor at that moment so that her victory feels unearned.
Disappointing.
To say that the male character who is the villain of this work was set up as a straw man is a staggering piece of understatement. This man’s capacity for inflicting humiliation and abuse, his intense narcissism—it was all so heavy-handed as to draw me out of the book entirely. When Maureen, the wife, began to stand up to him, it became even worse. She would give him these retorts, which for some reason always left him speechless; yet, they were not strong. They were not eloquent. They sounded like the feminist fan-fiction rantings of a fourteen-year-old, who creates a male character who spouts offensive things so that she can deliver these self-righteous diatribes in the voice of her lady protagonist.
I’m all for tearing down patriarchal idols, rewriting history to foreground the woman’s story, and so on. When women have been oppressed and beaten down (figuratively and literally, politically, socially, bodily) for centuries and continue to be so to this day, yes, I want to continue to hear their stories. In fact, I want to witness their redemptive, “screw you” moment when they tell their oppressor that he just won’t get to be one any more. But it has to feel like reality; it has to not strategically disarm the oppressor at that moment so that her victory feels unearned.
Disappointing.
September 3, 2016
The few Kaye Gibbons books I’ve read so far have been enchanting and I looked forward to enjoying this book as much as I had her previous works.
This author has an exceptionally gifted pen. She masters the English language skilfully as she takes the reader back in time and have us experience what it was like to be a woman in an era gone by. The author almost always presents us such female characters (e.g. Charms of the Easy Life) that are extraordinary, eccentric, freethinking and powerful, even magical. However here, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t connect with the characters. I found the overall story to be disappointing. It felt somewhat choppy; as though there were 2 books; one about Mary the narrator and times gone by; the second about her abused aunt. What is sure though is that this story shows us that abuse is not always physical, but that emotional and verbal damage can be equally as destructive.
This author has an exceptionally gifted pen. She masters the English language skilfully as she takes the reader back in time and have us experience what it was like to be a woman in an era gone by. The author almost always presents us such female characters (e.g. Charms of the Easy Life) that are extraordinary, eccentric, freethinking and powerful, even magical. However here, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t connect with the characters. I found the overall story to be disappointing. It felt somewhat choppy; as though there were 2 books; one about Mary the narrator and times gone by; the second about her abused aunt. What is sure though is that this story shows us that abuse is not always physical, but that emotional and verbal damage can be equally as destructive.
February 7, 2009
Ehhh. This book was weird--I JUST finished reading "Charms for The Easy Life" yesterday, and finished this one today. "Charms For The Easy Life" was amazing--couldn't put it down, beautifully written. This one felt awkward, and the long monologues from Maureen ranting at Troop were stilted at best and obnoxious at worst.
September 26, 2009
What a joy to find another Kaye Gibbons novel! While her first book was a funny comming of age book, this is a gothic romance. Yes, a gothic romance set in Washington DC and North Carolina during the influenza epidemic in 1918. She nails both the place and time, while crating a nice bit of suspense and a Heathcliff you can hate with impunity.
May 5, 2023
One of my favorite Kaye Gibbons novels that I’ve ever read. The characters and the story are both superb.
June 12, 2022
If you read the description of this book, you have the entirety of the plot. Thankfully, I did not read the summary or I would have been bored. This book was fine.
August 14, 2010
This book is set in the autumn of 1918 with the end of World War I and the outbreak of the Spanish influenza. Twenty-two year old Mary Oliver, from a very wealthy and eccentric Washington, D.C. family, is sent by her mother to Elm City, North Carolina to assist her Aunt Maureen in the last weeks of her pregnancy. Maureen is married to Troop, the half-brother of Mary's mother, and he is an emotionally sadistic man who is ruling his wife and his house by fear and intimidation. Mary comes to feel that her duty is to protect her aunt and the continuing confrontations with Troop turn the domestic situation into a battleground. Gibbons is able to bring the settings of Washington, D.C. during World War I and Elm City, North Carolina to life by artfully drawing the social conventions and obligations of both. She is also very successful in her use of class as a theme of the book She is less successful in creating Troop, an emotional cripple, who controls his world by destroying others. But as an examination of the strength and resiliance that women find in each other, it is a good read.
January 19, 2010
This is a wonderful piece of fiction that should serve to empower mentally abused women trapped in a loveless marriage. It is emancipating. It takes place in the autumn of 1918 for a couple of months preceding victory in WWI in a North Carolina town, Elm City (Durham?)--with flashbacks to Washington.
The backgound also is peppered with deaths from the Spanish flu epidemic.
Mary Oliver, who has been brought up in a wealthy free-thinking environment in Washington is sent to North Carolina to assist Maureen, the wife of her uncle Troop who mentally abuses his wife until she is almost broken.
A short novel but powerful piece of writing.
The backgound also is peppered with deaths from the Spanish flu epidemic.
Mary Oliver, who has been brought up in a wealthy free-thinking environment in Washington is sent to North Carolina to assist Maureen, the wife of her uncle Troop who mentally abuses his wife until she is almost broken.
A short novel but powerful piece of writing.
February 7, 2012
This is my new favorite book! The writing was beautiful and moving as were the strong female characters in the book. They were forced to face a belittling and degrading man who seemed to thrive on crushing the spirits of others any time he could uplift himself in the process, and their strength in the face of such treatment was inspiring. This book made me proud to be a woman.
Read December 2008, January 2010, April 2011, January 2012
Read December 2008, January 2010, April 2011, January 2012
June 2, 2008
i really enjoyed this book. it is short, making it a quick read but contained some powerfully simple messages about finding the strength within to live the life you want to lead, regardless of the actions and influence of those around you. in short, although moving, it doesn't require you to think too deeply or get overly involved for a committed amount of time.
November 3, 2011
Excellent book that takes place in the early 1900s. This is a story about a woman in a loveless marriage, pregnant with her first child. Her niece comes to take care of her and confronts the abusive husband.
December 28, 2013
Good one. Powerful ending I thought. I'm not usually one for dysfunctional family fiction, but this seemed to rise above the rest.
February 9, 2019
Beautifully written and thoughtfully seen through the eyes of the author. Speaks to the power of the human spirit!
March 18, 2020
Lovely, lovely, lovely prose and great characterizations and story too. I’ll admit I read it because the 1918 influenza epidemic is an essential piece of the story.
February 7, 2024
Excellent!!!!
June 24, 2024
Set in North Carolina during the influenza epidemic in 1918. Man, this is no romance novel. Maureen is married to one of the worst abusive man I've ever read about in a book. And wow, did they do some horrific things to women back in these days.
Maureen, the wife in the book, cried when she heard her sister died, and her husband said she was histrionic then had her get treatments that men decided upon back in the day and deemed necessary.
She was shoved in a tub of ice naked and tranquilized and beaten into a stupor with wet towels. Then, put her in a rotary chair that spins at a high velocity. She was subjected to vaginal fumigation. WTF? It was a medical practice used to treat hysteria particularly. The belief was that the uterus could wander around the body like an animal, causing symptoms. To bring the uterus back to its proper place, treatments included vaginal fumigations, bitter potions, balms, and wool pessaries. She was given shock treatments to put her into a more permissible state. there are many more things women were subjected to, such as...... Well, I'll let you look it up if you're brave enough to look into it, but it's truly sad, and I'm so grateful I did not have to live in that era.
But WAIT......It gets worse than she gets pregnant and the husband's half-sister the husband barley knows is called upon to come help with the difficult pregnancy and finds the place of horror as the husband repeatedly tortures, emotionally abuses and neglects his wife.
I'm happy to report that in 2024. If you want to cry honey, (go ahead and cry). Get hysterical, leave that bastard. This is exactly what the half-sister tries to help this wife to do is give the wife her voice back. The book does not have a happy ending, and it's quite scary that these things could have happened to women back then. Even scarier, maybe to one of our relatives in the 1800s we never even knew.
I guess Kay Gibbons sheds light upon the suffering of women in that day, things I had no clue about. I did read recently that if your husband, father, or doctor deemed you slow or to have fits of histrionics such as in standing up to your husband, or yelling, having an opinion that differs from your father or husband, or not conforming, to certain rules was considered histrionics.
Guess I must be histrionic. Lucky for me, I can do all these things and more w/o any torturing.
I read another book a few years ago that mentioned Reverand Graham from the 1800s. Graham believed sexual desires were ruining society. He believed sex was useful only for procreation. I think Catholics thought that to back in the day also. He created the graham cracker as a way to fight immoral thoughts of masturbation or having sex. No matter what he believed,
I'm still eating graham crackers and milk at night. If the side effect means I won't crave sex. I'll take it. LOL.
Maureen, the wife in the book, cried when she heard her sister died, and her husband said she was histrionic then had her get treatments that men decided upon back in the day and deemed necessary.
She was shoved in a tub of ice naked and tranquilized and beaten into a stupor with wet towels. Then, put her in a rotary chair that spins at a high velocity. She was subjected to vaginal fumigation. WTF? It was a medical practice used to treat hysteria particularly. The belief was that the uterus could wander around the body like an animal, causing symptoms. To bring the uterus back to its proper place, treatments included vaginal fumigations, bitter potions, balms, and wool pessaries. She was given shock treatments to put her into a more permissible state. there are many more things women were subjected to, such as...... Well, I'll let you look it up if you're brave enough to look into it, but it's truly sad, and I'm so grateful I did not have to live in that era.
But WAIT......It gets worse than she gets pregnant and the husband's half-sister the husband barley knows is called upon to come help with the difficult pregnancy and finds the place of horror as the husband repeatedly tortures, emotionally abuses and neglects his wife.
I'm happy to report that in 2024. If you want to cry honey, (go ahead and cry). Get hysterical, leave that bastard. This is exactly what the half-sister tries to help this wife to do is give the wife her voice back. The book does not have a happy ending, and it's quite scary that these things could have happened to women back then. Even scarier, maybe to one of our relatives in the 1800s we never even knew.
I guess Kay Gibbons sheds light upon the suffering of women in that day, things I had no clue about. I did read recently that if your husband, father, or doctor deemed you slow or to have fits of histrionics such as in standing up to your husband, or yelling, having an opinion that differs from your father or husband, or not conforming, to certain rules was considered histrionics.
Guess I must be histrionic. Lucky for me, I can do all these things and more w/o any torturing.
I read another book a few years ago that mentioned Reverand Graham from the 1800s. Graham believed sexual desires were ruining society. He believed sex was useful only for procreation. I think Catholics thought that to back in the day also. He created the graham cracker as a way to fight immoral thoughts of masturbation or having sex. No matter what he believed,
I'm still eating graham crackers and milk at night. If the side effect means I won't crave sex. I'll take it. LOL.
July 10, 2022
The book called out to me from a library shelf because of it's title and the women on the cover were wearing clothing that told me the basic time frame of the book. Right away I thought, "Yellow Wallpaper" because of a pregnant woman and an psychologically distant husband but it went further than that and had more intriguing characters and wasn't as dark AND I definitely felt the quiet nod to Charlotte Perkins Gilman within the pages.
I also appreciated the women who were adversarial and downright harmful to other women, which is true to life as well. Race played a role and there were hints of two of the characters being lesbians. The Spanish Flu epidemic began and there were deaths on the rise which were shared via a city bell tolling - a tradition one reads about in books and also ticked my curiosity bug to find out more about the tradition.
One of the more quiet, nuanced aspects of the book was Gibbons writing tone being very much like the books I have read that were written in this time. Well done.
I also appreciated the women who were adversarial and downright harmful to other women, which is true to life as well. Race played a role and there were hints of two of the characters being lesbians. The Spanish Flu epidemic began and there were deaths on the rise which were shared via a city bell tolling - a tradition one reads about in books and also ticked my curiosity bug to find out more about the tradition.
One of the more quiet, nuanced aspects of the book was Gibbons writing tone being very much like the books I have read that were written in this time. Well done.
October 8, 2023
OMG! Unless you have known a man like Troop Ross, you probably won’t believe that men like him exist. He is arrogant, wholly self absorbed and insulting to everyone whom he considers to be even a hairs breadth “beneath” him, but especially his wife. The blurb for this book says that Troop’s wife Maureen is well past the safe age for childbearing, but I saw nothing about that in the novel. It is inconsequential to the story. Set against WWI and the “Spanish “ Flu pandemic there is plenty of misery for a woman who desperately wants a child and who has a thoroughly cruel self centered husband. On the other hand, Mary Oliver, whose mother is half sister to Troop, is a strong, intelligent, independent woman ahead of her time. Mary uncovers the myriad cruelties that Troop visits on his beautiful, sweet wife and sets about getting Maureen a backbone. The ending is gut wrenching, but satisfying none the less.
It is a fairly short book, but an absorbing story.
It is a fairly short book, but an absorbing story.
April 20, 2019
This was one first book by Kaye Gibbons and by reading some of the reviews, it is not her best. So I will give her another try. I had a hard time getting into this book. It was like she was introducing all the characters at once. She does a great job giving you details of the history of what is going on. It is about women so she really places the women and what they can or can not do according to law or societal rules. Once I figured out what was going on.. I enjoyed the book... UNTIL the end... I did not like the end.... so the meat of the book was really good, the beginning and the end not so good.. would I recommend it.. NO but I will give her another try.
July 25, 2020
I flew through this book!
I liked the oddness of Mary’s family, and that Maureen found courage, but both of these items felt too contemporary. Mary seems bizarrely progressive for 1918;I think she treats Mamie and Zollie with an equality that simply would not have existed in NC in 1918; and Troop would not have relinquished control of a wife, just like that, in 1918.
This book is set 100 years ago, but the characters seem to have 21st century sensibilities. Strange.
I liked the oddness of Mary’s family, and that Maureen found courage, but both of these items felt too contemporary. Mary seems bizarrely progressive for 1918;I think she treats Mamie and Zollie with an equality that simply would not have existed in NC in 1918; and Troop would not have relinquished control of a wife, just like that, in 1918.
This book is set 100 years ago, but the characters seem to have 21st century sensibilities. Strange.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2024
This was my second time reading this. I first read it many years ago, when it was new. It tells the story of Mary, the child of an eccentric, wealthy, and loving family during the First World War. Mary is sent to care for her Uncle's wife Maureen during her pregnancy. Her uncle is known to be a wealthy, well-raised, yet cruel man. When Mary arrives, she and Maureen develop a friendship and Mary becomes aware of how things really are in her Uncle's house.
April 29, 2025
Very well told short story. It is 1918 and Mary has been sent from Washington to be with her pregnant aunt for a few months. Finding Maureen belittled by her mother’s brother, treated cruelly and diagnosed as hysterical Mary aims to rectify the issues, drawing Aunt Maureen to recognise a similarity to her mother’s friend by sharing her missives. As well as status division in the southern states it is the time of Spanish flu and its horrors.
June 12, 2018
pretty good, not her best. her stories are always about ladies, usually set about 1930-1950 or so. this one was very focused on a pregnant lady trapped with a whack job husband, and a niece who comes in and sets things straight (eventually).
I'm not very interested in pregnant ladies. the back story on the nieces family and the hired helps life was good.
I'm not very interested in pregnant ladies. the back story on the nieces family and the hired helps life was good.
July 16, 2021
A great read. It is the story of Mary Oliver and Maureen Ross. The writing style of Kaye Gibbon makes this book great, it truly depicts the pain of Maureen from her cold and cruel husband Troop. Mary, Troop's niece realizes that she has the duty to protect Maureen from her bullying husband.
my fav pages ;147,155,183 to188,195.
my fav pages ;147,155,183 to188,195.
August 16, 2019
I was impressed by this short novel (could possibly have been even better in short story form) anchored by one misogynistic racist bully and several extraordinarily clever, bold women. Maybe not the deepest dive into nuances of human nature, but I always enjoy a story told by Kaye Gibbons.
Read
June 12, 2020Nudity, ghosts, bullying.
I always have a bad taste in my mouth when authors give two characters names that start with the same letter. This was over the top! Did we really need Martha, Mary, Maureen and Mamie?
I always have a bad taste in my mouth when authors give two characters names that start with the same letter. This was over the top! Did we really need Martha, Mary, Maureen and Mamie?
August 19, 2020
I have loved all of Kaye Gibbons’ books, but not this one. The story was very choppy. Characters we brought into the story without any foreground, often in incomplete sentences, with poorly designed allusions to the spiritual divines of the day.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews