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Our Better Natures
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Expected 5 Feb 26'Our Better Natures is a stunning meditation on hope, its fragile insistence, driven by Sophie Ward's singular wit and astounding philosophical playfulness. It cements Ward's place as one of our most inventive, inquisitive, & alert novelists working today' MARGOT DOUAIHY
Amid the chaos and political upheaval of 1970s America, three very different women must accept the world as it is, or act to change it.
Phyllis Patterson is a housewife in White Plains, Illinois. Her son Jimmy returns to the family home from Vietnam with a Korean wife and two children. Blindsided by these new additions, particularly her curious granddaughter, Soozie, Phyllis's small-town world is turned upside down in more ways than she could have ever imagined.
Andrea Dworkin is an activist in Amsterdam. Having fled her abusive husband and their life together, she finds herself desperate for answers, for herself and the world around her. An encounter with Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault at their infamous Dutch debate provokes her burgeoning independence. Returning to America she will embody a revolution, no matter the price.
Muriel Rukeyser is a poet in New York. Despite protestations from her lover, Monica, Muriel insists on campaigning against injustice, using her words as weapons and pushing her body to its limits. In this era of political unrest, Muriel's life stands as a testament to the possibility of creative resistance.
A single postcard from an imprisoned writer thousands of miles away will unite these women in the fight for a world they believe in.
Full of compassion, imagination and rich storytelling, Our Better Natures is a powerful novel about language, connection and freedom.
Amid the chaos and political upheaval of 1970s America, three very different women must accept the world as it is, or act to change it.
Phyllis Patterson is a housewife in White Plains, Illinois. Her son Jimmy returns to the family home from Vietnam with a Korean wife and two children. Blindsided by these new additions, particularly her curious granddaughter, Soozie, Phyllis's small-town world is turned upside down in more ways than she could have ever imagined.
Andrea Dworkin is an activist in Amsterdam. Having fled her abusive husband and their life together, she finds herself desperate for answers, for herself and the world around her. An encounter with Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault at their infamous Dutch debate provokes her burgeoning independence. Returning to America she will embody a revolution, no matter the price.
Muriel Rukeyser is a poet in New York. Despite protestations from her lover, Monica, Muriel insists on campaigning against injustice, using her words as weapons and pushing her body to its limits. In this era of political unrest, Muriel's life stands as a testament to the possibility of creative resistance.
A single postcard from an imprisoned writer thousands of miles away will unite these women in the fight for a world they believe in.
Full of compassion, imagination and rich storytelling, Our Better Natures is a powerful novel about language, connection and freedom.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 5, 2026
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November 18, 2025
Set in the 1970’s we see the imagined lives of three women who lived through this period of social change. A very feminist and philosophical novel that explores what it means for the personal to be political.
Through the three points of view we see the domestic space, the intellectual space and the artistic space. I connected with each in a different way that worked well.
I most enjoyed the domestic story of Phyllis’s family in the heart of America but will most remember Andreas arguments against the heavyweight intellectuals of the time. I thought Muriel’s part was the weakest of the three, maybe because it acted as a bridge between the two sides of the human experience (head vs heart) and so didn’t feel as distinct.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for the arc.
Through the three points of view we see the domestic space, the intellectual space and the artistic space. I connected with each in a different way that worked well.
I most enjoyed the domestic story of Phyllis’s family in the heart of America but will most remember Andreas arguments against the heavyweight intellectuals of the time. I thought Muriel’s part was the weakest of the three, maybe because it acted as a bridge between the two sides of the human experience (head vs heart) and so didn’t feel as distinct.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for the arc.
Displaying 1 of 1 review