A Family of Good Women

by Teddy Jones

What is the true meaning of family?

Imogene Good finds herself wrestling with this question when, still grieving her mother’s death, she abandons a promising teaching career to open a boarding house in the near-lawless oil boomtown of Borger, Texas. Alone.
 
The business thrives, love arrives in the form of mysterious Texas Ranger, and Imogene takes in a stray dog and a runaway cousin from the Good family farm in East Texas. But months later, as fatigue, mounting threats, and violence against her business threatens to overwhelm her, she finds refuge in the contents of a trunk she carted to town after her mother’s death.
 
In it, Imogene finds secrets about the women who raised her that changes her life and her understanding of family. Can the Good women build a new life from the ashes of hardship on the inhospitable plains of the 1920s Texas Panhandle?
 
Inspired by historical events, A Family of Good Women is a compelling tale of inner strength, the bonds of family, and the power of the human spirit. 
 
 
 

Genres: Womens Fiction

339 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 9, 2025

Reviews

[Kristine Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! Spectacular story, spectacular writing, and A FAMILY OF GOOD WOMEN by Teddy Jones gives me all the feels.

Reading A FAMILY OF GOOD WOMEN was just the boost I needed as a reader; how amazing it is to seamlessly enjoy and get lost in the world a talented writer creates. And this world, set in the late 1920s (but spanning years earlier), is intriguing.

“The scenery here—oil derricks and shotgun houses with nary a tree in sight unless you count the mesquites out on the edge of town—was different from the green lushness of Central Texas. The Texas Panhandle takes some getting used to.”

Living in the Panhandle area of Texas ain’t for sissies, even in modern times, but in 1929, it was even tougher, especially in the rough and often lawless oil boom towns. And for twenty-three-year-old Imogene Good, an educated woman serving meals to the oilfield workers, it’s even rougher. But this gal is no shrinking violet, even when some of the men try to push her around and threaten violence. She uses her smarts, makes connections, and takes control through her wit, spirit, and spunk. She’s a strong woman, but she also recognizes her vulnerabilities, and that – along with her sassy red shoes – make her pop to life.

“I love that time between sleep and waking where I see the past and the future all together, where ideas drop into my mind like feathers drifting on a breeze from a cloudless sky.”

In A FAMILY OF GOOD WOMEN, the writing is dreamy, lyrical, and evocative. I finished reading this book nearly six weeks ago, but the story remains fresh in my mind. I also learned lots of new-to-me (but old) terminology, and the Author’s Note refers to the Women’s Commonwealth of Belton, Texas, which inspired the author to weave the tale that ultimately became the book -- and sent me down a researching rabbit hole to learn more.

I feel like the characters, along with the lovable dog, Big Guy, must still be doing their thing out in the Panhandle, in some kind of time warp where it’s 1930 or so. That’s the power of Teddy Jones’s writing. I highly recommend snagging a copy of A FAMILY OF GOOD WOMEN and indulging in fascinating historical fiction and immersing yourself in engaging storytelling that’s sprinkled with a side of sass.

This full review and more special features on Hall Ways Blog.

[Angel Keiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a likable, sensible protagonist, and Imogene Good is definitely that!
The writing is straightforward and flows well, so I enjoyed having this as my evening reading to wind down with. While there's a lot that happens in the story, the foreshadowing is so strong that I found this more of a cozy read rather than a gripping page-turner. Even though I "knew" what would happen next, it was still fun to experience the journey to get there.

Thank you, KJ Waters Consultancy, for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review!

[Sequoyah Branham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Family of Good Women is a wholesome read. A found family type of story set in boom town Borger, TX.
The author does a wonderful job of weaving in the back story at just the right times all through the story.
There were a fair amount of places throughout the story that I had the urge to skip over. I also didn’t ever have a clear sense of what Imogene (the main character) was desiring or trying to achieve.

Overall I enjoyed the story and would be interested in reading more from the author.

[Amie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not stop reading this beautiful story of independence, hardship, strength, and love. These women created a life and a family for themselves on their own terms, proving family ties are not always dependent on blood, but the bonds created by life and love.

[George Getschow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t speak for Larry McMurtry, Texas’s greatest novelist. But I suspect Teddy Jones’s historical novel, "A Family of Good Women," would have hit close to home. Larry’s depictions of women—whether on the Texas frontier or contemporary small towns and major cities—stand out for the author’s unparalleled ability to create memorable and credible female characters. Turns out, Teddy Jones is no second fiddle to McMurtry in creating female characters who seem to leap off the page.

Take Imogene Good, the novel’s resolute, resilient and fiercely independent protagonist who runs a boarding house in Borger, TX, a rough-and-tumble town in the Texas Panhandle. Despite the grueling nature of the work and the constant threat of physical violence, Imogene remains generous and compassionate, even to customers who menace and harass her. As the climax unfolds, the escalating threats turn into violence. Relying primarily on herself and other women, Imogene learns “almost too late” that falling in love with a Texas Ranger may not be enough to trust him as much as the female figures in her life.

Imogene Good strikes me as the archetype of Clara Allen in Lonesome Dove. Confronted by overwhelming and lasting grief, Imogene and Clara not only persevere, they become pillars of strength through their unwavering independence in a male-dominated society. Clara takes over the family ranch and her husband’s horse-trading business after her husband succumbs to a grave horse kick. Smart, strong-willed and self-reliant, Clara runs the ranch and the business better than her husband did. Like Imogene, Clara also has a compassionate heart.

Clara and Imogene even share a deep affection for the enigmatic Texas Rangers. Clara’s wooed by the legendary Ranger Gus McCrae and Imogene’s courted by a nameless Ranger who she considers “mysterious.” Yet, both chose to remain single despite having to singlehandedly shoulder heavy responsibilities. Clara and Imogene’s determination to go it alone in a man’s world offers a valuable lesson for all of us—especially women—who are tethered to a man who doesn’t share their drive or their dreams for a better life.

Both women show all of us how to build a new life from the broken bricks of the past. That’s a life lesson far more valuable than the price of A Family of Good Women or Lonesome Dove.

George Getschow
Executive Director
The Larry McMurtry Literary Center
Archer City, TX

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got a copy of this book through Authors XP, but I really didn't know what to expect. Since it is unlike other books I've read, it took a minute (only a minute) to get into the groove. But ... I LOVED it. I got so caught up in the unique voice of the main character and her life in a little oil boom town in Texas that I could hardly put it down. I was fascinated by the idea (inspired by the historical "Sanctified Sisters"/Women's Commonwealth of Belton, TX) of generations of women who were committed to living independent lives (some out of necessity but most out of conviction) in an era when women were largely reliant upon men. It took guts, so much hard work, and a spirit of community, but they did it! So inspiring. But it is also a story of knowing and respecting where you came from, but finding your own way. I highly recommend this book and am recommending it to my public library as well.

[Bebe Foster-Rone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully woven, multi-generational tale that shines with emotional depth and quiet strength. Jones captures the resilience, flaws, and fierce love of her characters with masterful sensitivity. It's a poignant, lyrical tribute to the women who hold families—and themselves—together through time. Unforgettable and deeply moving.

[Linda Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Family of Good Women is a magnificent tale set in Texas.

This novel celebrates the resilience and grit of its unforgettable female character.

This book weaves together a captivating tale of strong-willed women who navigate life's toughest situations with unwavering spirit.

4.9 stars

[Jan Sikes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The oil boom in the early 1900s brought men flocking into the Texas panhandle to make their fortunes. But along with them came riff-raff, corruption and crime. Lawlessness prevailed and for women especially, it was a dangerous time.
In this story, the author takes the reader into the lives of women spanning generations. It is a dual timeline story except the past is revealed through journal entries written by the main character's grandmother.
Imogene Good knows little about her family other than they are all women. It's through her grandmother's journal entries she finds secrets that change how she views all she's known until now. The Good women had some strong beliefs that drove every decision they made. This story is loosely based on historic accounts of the Women's Commonwealth in the Belton, Texas community in the 1800s. It was a community comprised only of women who had either been abused by their husbands, or who chose not to ever marry. Instead, they formed their own family. The women in this story all changed their surnames to Good.

I loved the characters in this book. Told in first person through Imogene Good, it's plain to see what a strong woman she is. While she has a college education, she chooses to continue her mother's business of feeding the men who work the drilling rigs. In the book, these men are referred to as Boarders, but none of them live in the house. They come daily to eat and pay Imogene for homecooked meals.
When Imogene's cousin, Sue Ellen shows up unexpectedly, Imogene is quite sure she's running from some sort of trouble. I enjoyed how these two women began to get to know each other and Sue Ellen plays an important role in the unfolding of the story.
Other side characters, Ben and Sam, are both honorable men who develop a fondness for the two ladies. Then, there is a dog who shows up at Imogene's back door, and stays. Big Dog is loyal and does his best to protect his owners.
But it's R.B. who intrigues me the most. It took a while to figure out the reason he tries so hard to protect Imogene when situations with the roughnecks get out of hand.
Things are rough in Borger, Texas. As oil flows from the ground. corruption and greed prevail. At one point in the story, there is even an intervention from the Texas Rangers and National Guard. While this is a fiction story, I feel quite sure these boom towns experienced everything from good and decent people to a strong criminal element. This author took me through all of it. She is visual in her descriptions of the landscape, the fires that burned on the derricks at night, and the characters who help unravel this twisted tale. If you have a fondness for history, especially the early oil boom days, you will no doubt enjoy this story.

[Cynthia Leal Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A Life Without Men… Not!”
A Review of A Family of Good Women by Teddy Jones
By Cynthia Leal Massey

Owner of a boarding house in the burgeoning oilfield town of Borger, Texas in 1929, Imogene Good, one of the hardest working women I’ve ever read about in any book, has plenty of time to think while she is preparing for and cooking three meals a day for the town’s oilfield workers. Mostly, she thinks about her upbringing—why she grew up without a father or brothers, in fact, without male support or companionship at all—and why she so acutely feels the lack of something she never had.
She never thought to question her mother about the absence of males in their lives; now that her mother has died, all Imogene has is an old trunk filled with her mother’s things, including some old journals kept by her grandmother. Too busy, and even a bit fearful, to find out what the journals will reveal about her mother and her own childhood, Imogene waits until her curiosity can no longer be contained.

A Family of Good Women is inspired by the true story of the Belton Woman’s Commonwealth in Belton, Texas, a religious sect of women, mostly wives and mothers, who felt their lives were unfulfilled and who wanted to get away from domineering husbands or fathers. The sect, also known as “Sanctificationists,” had its beginnings in 1867 when Belton farm wife and mother Martha White McWhirter experienced a vision during which she felt “sanctified” by God. She founded a group for those willing to live under four major tenets: a commitment to celibacy, non-denominationalism, dream interpretation, and communal living. Many women joined the sect believing in McWhirter’s vision.

Several decades later, most of the original members of the religious sect have died, and the group has splintered into different directions. A Family of Good Women takes readers to Prohibition-era Texas, with the finely wrought characters of Imogene Good and her “cousin” Sue Ellen Good, descendants of early members of the sect, slowly peeling away the layers of their past lives. We learn how profound communal living amongst the “sisters” was, and yet, how sterile it had become without the opposite sex. In the boarding house they run, Imogene and Sue Ellen find themselves surrounded by the very thing their female ancestors felt compelled to shun—men. What they learn is both scary and wonderful.

Book release date is September 9, 2025.

[Mary E Trimble · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Family of Good Women, an intriguing novel by Teddy Jones, takes place in the 1920s oil boomtown of Borger, Texas.

Imogene Good, 23, still grieves her mother’s death. Imogene works hard at the boarding house she inherited from her mother. She cooks three meals a day and furnishes a sack lunch for the night-shift workers. It’s a rough town filled with mostly tough, hard-working men. Although Imogene graduated from teaching college and longs to teach, she feels obligated to continue with the boarding house.

Imogene takes in a runaway cousin, Sue Ellen, from the Good family farm in East Texas, a young woman who has a bad reputation. The two women come to an understanding and both toil endlessly at the never-ending work of a boarding house filled with tough, hungry oil workers. Most men appreciate the women’s efforts, but there’s one mean boarder who threatens violence.

When Imogene finds a journal in her mother’s trunk, she learns the history of her family of women and children, an extended family that strangely lacks men. As a child, she took their existence for granted, but in reading her family history, many questions of her childhood are answered. Imogene and Sue Ellen are able to piece together family issues and lingering mysteries.

When violence strikes home, the two women learn who their friends really are. Almost too late, Imogene learns what one man’s relationship, a Texas Ranger, means to her.

A Family of Good Women is an excellent novel, packed with realistic scenes of rough oil boom towns of the 1920s. The existence of Good women is based on fact, and this novel brings their story to life.

[Kathleen Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imogene Good is a woman with agency, even if she wouldn’t have called herself that in1929 when she singlehandedly tries to run a boarding house (an eatery serving family-style meals) in the rough-and-tumble oil boomtown of Borger, Texas, in Teddy Jones’s exceptional new novel, A Family of Good Women. Ms. Jones is known for her straightforward, no-nonsense writing style, and she delivers once again by giving us a female protagonist we can root for, one with spunk, sass, and a college diploma to teach history, but she must set that dream aside for now to run a successful business. But even strong women like Imogene are vulnerable, especially when a no-good troublemaker comes along trying to destroy everything she’s worked for.

Despite setbacks and still grieving her mother’s recent loss, Imogene musters up the physical and mental strength, along with courage, to not only survive, but thrive, in a town made up mostly of good people. Inspired by a true story about a large family consisting solely of women and children, A Family of Good Women explores love and loss, hard work and fortitude, and that constant search for the meaning of family, whether by blood or choice. For those who love characters of the four-legged variety, Teddy Jones gives us a dog named Big Guy, another down-and-outer that Imogene can’t say no to. If you loved Bullet in Ms. Jones’s last novel, Marva Cope, you’re bound to love Big Guy.

Grab your copy of A Family of Good Women and come meet the other story people who come calling, like R.B. Stone, Cousin Sue Ellen, Samuel H. Norton the lawyer, and Ben the carpenter. You never know what might constitute a good family.

[Judith Worthington · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be published: September 9, 2025

This story follows the struggles of a young woman who opens a boarding house in an oil boomtown in rural Texas in the late 1920s.

What makes this boomtown story different is the life this woman came from. Her grandmother was part of what some would call a commune of sorts. A religious sect devised of abused women who've sworn off men and marriage. A small group of those women wanted children and thus left the main group to found their own and created a family of sisters, aunts and cousins.

As the lead character struggles in her present, the past is unveiled through journals left to her when her mother passed. Thus the stories of the sisters and their extended family comes to light while this woman strives to define what family means to her life today.

Based loosely on true history of such a group of women, and the lawlessness of that town's founding, it is a very rich and full story.

[Natalie Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

The engaging and independents main character grabs you from page one. We want her to succeed in her efforts to operate a dining house to feed oil field workers. I love that it is set in Borger, Texas - a true oil boomtown and this author does a fantastic job of bringing that world to life. While trying to make it on her own, Imogene Good discovers a disturbing family secret and while trying to make sense of her past she battles a vengeful driller who wants to put her out of business. The only thing she can rely on are the things her mother taught her about serving a delicious meal and her own will to succeed. Nice, sweet story with believable characters that is an enjoyable read. Teddy Jones never disappoints.

[Lonnia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the 1920s, after her mother passes away, Imogene Good gives up her teaching career to move to the Texas oil boomtown of Borger, where she opens a boarding house. Her business is thriving. Imogene thinks about her family, which consists of all women. There are no grandfathers, fathers, or brothers. While going through her mother's trunk, she finds journals written by her grandmother. It is in these journals that she finds the answers. The story explores family, resilience, and the human spirit's strength.

[Dee Bratcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful writing - feels almost like a series of personal letters I received. I liked getting to know the characters, found the dialogue to have moved very smoothly and believably, and the story didn't go sideways trying to be "too cool" - it kept my interest and sense of believability.

This is in fact a very timely book as I see more and more groups of women looking to build specific communities with one another. I liked the scope being open to other values and main issues.

[LINDA BASS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally, I am not interested in this genre, but I liked how Imogene Good struggled to feed Texas oil men back in the day by herself as the hours were long and left her no time to do anything else and there was a sink full of dishes that always needed washing. I was glad that RB came along to take that burden off of her but then he just disappeared! I admired Imogene as she had a college degree and she wanted to teach, but fate had other plans.

[Red Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am leaving an honest review as I received an ARC.

I usually do not read these kinds of books but I was intrigued by the title. The content was not what I expected but I did enjoy the book very much. The intrigue of the family and the life story of the main character made the book enjoyable. Would definitely buy the next book (if there is one) to see how the story continues.

[Bec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one a little slow to get into, but once I got into it (about a third of the way through) I didn't want to put it down. I enjoyed the dual timeline, where we had Imogene Good in the present time in the 1920s, and then her learning through a journal about her Mother and Grandmother and how the family came to be. I really appreciated the resilience of Imogene, and the historical fiction setting made me get a good feel for the times.