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The Defiant Booklovers
Chris O’Brien quits her job at a feminist newspaper to follow her publishing books. It’s the heyday of women’s presses in the late ’70s, but that’s no guarantee of success, especially with a quirky business partner who is a female Oscar Wilde wannabe.
Ruth Goldman dreams of starting a collectively run feminist bookstore. She launches a business with other dedicated feminists. Does one of them harbor a secret that could destroy everything?
Despite vastly different backgrounds, Chris and Ruth’s shared passion for books leads to love. But politics intervenes, and Ruth faces a moral choice that could send her to prison. Can their love—and their dreams—endure?
Ruth Goldman dreams of starting a collectively run feminist bookstore. She launches a business with other dedicated feminists. Does one of them harbor a secret that could destroy everything?
Despite vastly different backgrounds, Chris and Ruth’s shared passion for books leads to love. But politics intervenes, and Ruth faces a moral choice that could send her to prison. Can their love—and their dreams—endure?
388 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2025
6 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Carol Anne Douglas
12 books97 followersCarol Anne Douglas is a writer of novels and plays. In her lalest novel, Choosing Yellowstone, she looks at a long-term couple who make different choices and have to live with the consequences. In her novel Sister Matthew and Sister Rose: Novices in Love, Douglas revists her Catholic girlhood. She also passionately loves the Arthurian legends and the works of Shakespeare, and has used them as the basis of her own fiction. Her Arthurian books are Lancelot Her Story and Lancelot and Guinevere, in which Lancelot is a woman in disguise. Her young adult novels, Merlin's Shakespeare and The Mercutio Problem, are about a teen-age girl's time travels to Shakespeare's world.
She worked on a feminist news journal for many years and published many essays. She has taught women's studies classes at George Washington University. She is now focusing on her novels and plays. Several of her short plays was read at the Kennedy Center, and at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Md.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 1, 2026
4.5 Stars
The Defiant Booklovers by Carol Ann Douglas was a crash course on late 70’s feminists of DC. I enjoyed the novel very much because it was realistic and had an air of a simpler life. The main characters had professions most feminist women aspire to have (as far as I know), and they practically lived the lives we wished we could (idyllic, quaint, nature-adjacent, cats).
I adore the romance part of the story because it was very close to realistic as possible. It wasn’t overly anything. It was steeped in indecision and insecurity especially since it’s a new relationship, etc.
The highlight for me was the name dropping of feminist authors, books, poets and music. It was very 70’s and refreshing to have learned something you could take away from reading a novel for pleasure.
The Defiant Booklovers by Carol Ann Douglas was a great, refreshing read.
The Defiant Booklovers by Carol Ann Douglas was a crash course on late 70’s feminists of DC. I enjoyed the novel very much because it was realistic and had an air of a simpler life. The main characters had professions most feminist women aspire to have (as far as I know), and they practically lived the lives we wished we could (idyllic, quaint, nature-adjacent, cats).
I adore the romance part of the story because it was very close to realistic as possible. It wasn’t overly anything. It was steeped in indecision and insecurity especially since it’s a new relationship, etc.
The highlight for me was the name dropping of feminist authors, books, poets and music. It was very 70’s and refreshing to have learned something you could take away from reading a novel for pleasure.
The Defiant Booklovers by Carol Ann Douglas was a great, refreshing read.
November 5, 2025
Travel back in time to late 1970's Washington DC, during a pivotal time for feminism in the US. Many current events of the time play out as a solid background to a love story of two women setting out on a relationship. All seems to be evolving well in the lives of the two women until a moral dilemma threatens to overturn all they have created.
Ruth Goldman dreams of a women's bookshop. She spearheads a collective of enthusiastic women to launch the shop. Chris O'Brian leaves her work at a feminist newspaper to establish a feminist publishing company. When they meet, Chris is irresistibly drawn to Ruth, who is hesitant to become involved with Chris, who reminds her of a failed past relationship and who is not of her faith. Both carry their pasts with them into the present and their life experiences, biases and cultural backgrounds threaten to keep them apart. Despite these obstacles, their attraction towards each other grows into a deepening relationship.
All seems to be progressing smoothly until Ruth is confronted by a moral dilemma and a choice that could lead to severe consequences for herself and hardship for those around her. For her, it is a matter of principle, a principle on which she believes she must stand firm, although it could shatter relationships with those around her and destroy the life she has worked so hard to build. The driving forces of Ruth's decision are sewn into the earlier narrative where we get to know her past, but this reader was left to ponder the reverberation of the past on choices made in the present.
The novel is well written, with characters that are well developed and believable as they gravitate towards each other and find common ground on which to develop their relationship. The introduction of the moral dilemma occurs relatively late in the book. The pace of the narrative relating to consequences of Ruth's decision quickens such that it feels rushed, with some of the fallout perhaps unexplored to a depth that would have given gravity to the calamity that occurs. The book portrays the period well, making it an informative yet entertaining read that engages the reader well. For anyone interested in the feminist tradition and looking for an absorbing love story with a twist, this is highly recommended.
I received this book as an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Ruth Goldman dreams of a women's bookshop. She spearheads a collective of enthusiastic women to launch the shop. Chris O'Brian leaves her work at a feminist newspaper to establish a feminist publishing company. When they meet, Chris is irresistibly drawn to Ruth, who is hesitant to become involved with Chris, who reminds her of a failed past relationship and who is not of her faith. Both carry their pasts with them into the present and their life experiences, biases and cultural backgrounds threaten to keep them apart. Despite these obstacles, their attraction towards each other grows into a deepening relationship.
All seems to be progressing smoothly until Ruth is confronted by a moral dilemma and a choice that could lead to severe consequences for herself and hardship for those around her. For her, it is a matter of principle, a principle on which she believes she must stand firm, although it could shatter relationships with those around her and destroy the life she has worked so hard to build. The driving forces of Ruth's decision are sewn into the earlier narrative where we get to know her past, but this reader was left to ponder the reverberation of the past on choices made in the present.
The novel is well written, with characters that are well developed and believable as they gravitate towards each other and find common ground on which to develop their relationship. The introduction of the moral dilemma occurs relatively late in the book. The pace of the narrative relating to consequences of Ruth's decision quickens such that it feels rushed, with some of the fallout perhaps unexplored to a depth that would have given gravity to the calamity that occurs. The book portrays the period well, making it an informative yet entertaining read that engages the reader well. For anyone interested in the feminist tradition and looking for an absorbing love story with a twist, this is highly recommended.
I received this book as an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.
October 27, 2025
This is a very good read. Chris and Ruth are realistic and likeable characters. Story and History blend very well together, and it's obvious a lot of research has gone into that novel.
I found it very well-written, with humoristic touches, and enjoyable
I found it very well-written, with humoristic touches, and enjoyable
January 8, 2026
A Sense of the 70's
The book does a good job of showing the day to day lives of feminists in Washington, DC in the 70's. The portrayal of shy lesbians falling in love is sensitive. The horrors of the USA grand jury system are explored. It is refreshing that feminist politics are portrayed as complex but a normal part of every day thinking and appealing to smart sensible women.
The book does a good job of showing the day to day lives of feminists in Washington, DC in the 70's. The portrayal of shy lesbians falling in love is sensitive. The horrors of the USA grand jury system are explored. It is refreshing that feminist politics are portrayed as complex but a normal part of every day thinking and appealing to smart sensible women.
December 11, 2025
The Defiant Booklovers is a gripping love story that thoughtfully addresses big historical, political, and ethical issues. I respect both main characters and admire their courage. Carol Anne Douglas's writing gets more impressive with each book. I recommend this and all her previous novels!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews