Trad Wife

by Sarah Langan

From the three-time Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Good Neighbors comes a chilling tale of a journalist's descent into horror as she uncovers the dark secrets behind a trad wife influencer, blending suspense with a critique of modern femininity and the manipulative forces of social media.

Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic 300-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven perfect children, and a life of from-scratch meals and pastoral bliss, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect image is a secret. And in this case, the secret is a horror.

Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to expose the deception behind Mia’s curated life. But soon, Jenny has more to contend with than staged videos and picture-perfect poses. There’s something wrong at the farmhouse. Something slithers through Jenny’s dreams, and at night, the children sing strange nursery rhymes.

She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.

There is a horror at the heart of Black Swan, and it’s waiting just for Jenny. Trad Wife will make you question what’s real and what’s just a perfectly curated deception…

Will you see the lie?

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Adult, Horror Thriller, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary

320 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication May 14, 2026

About the author

Sarah grew up on Long Island, got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, her MS in environmental toxicology from NYU, and currently lives in Los Angeles with her family, two rabbits, and three chickens.

Her next novel TRAD WIFE is due out from S&S and Tor UK in Summer, 2026.

Her most recent works include A BETTER WORLD, GOOD NEIGHBORS, PAM KOWOLSKI IS A MONSTER, YOU HAVE THE PRETTIEST MASK, "Does Harlen Lattner Dream of Electric Sheep?," "Squid Teeth," "The Devil's Children," and "I Miss You Too Much."


*I acknowledge that I have massacred the punctuation surrounding the above quotations marks. I will now resume talking about myself in the third person.*

Her books have received favorite of the year distinctions from NPR, Newsweek, The Irish Times, Publisher's Weekly, and the AARP (best of the last five years).

She is also three-time Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding novel in 2007 - The Missing, outstanding short story in 2008 - The Lost, and outstanding novel in 2009 - Audrey's Door.

Blog:https://sarahlangan.com/blog/

Reviews

[Holden Wunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

With all of the understandable buzz about Yesteryear, it begs the inevitable question of “Is there room enough for another book about Trad Wives?” Sarah Langan surely has something to say about it, and from me, it’s a resounding YES.

I said it in my last trad wife genre book review that we would be seeing a myriad of them coming out for the next two years and it’s happening now. But PLEASE don’t let this one slip past you because it does so many fun things that just make this just as, or more, enjoyable than some of the others out there.

We get a very different perspective here, an outside source and not a POV from the specified trad wife and it makes things incredibly spooky that qualifying this in a genre gets difficult. It has all the basics that we have been getting with trad wife fiction so your curiousity shall be dually quenched but the POV from a journalist allows such a spooky and disconnected experience throughout. Is it horror? Is it a thriller? A commentary? Is it a supernatural? Only one way to find out.

This reminded me so much of some old school horror movies like The Skeleton Key and it was just SO unique. The plot or the synopsis may seem basic in the sea of trad wife material out there but let me tell you it’s so wholly unexpected and one of a kind that it will be hard to compete against when others come out in the future.

[Valerie Book Valkyrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

April 1, 2026 PRE-READ NOTE:
I was just notified that I won a print copy of this book in a gr giveaway 😁!
(unless the email was some sort of April Fools Antic 🙃)
The notification indicated that shipping/delivery could take several weeks.
Will update this post when the book arrives 💛🧚‍♀️🙋🏼.

May 6, 2026 REVIEW:
1.5 Plagiaristic Stars rounded down to 1 April Fools Star.
A rather mundane story with an uneventful opening and mediocre writing.
It seems the novel may gain its traction solely from the trendy/trending trad-wife controversy.....likely a mere flash in the pan 💥🍳?

I do appreciate what the author is trying to achieve here, I just couldn't wrap myself around the way she's doing it. In the Acknowledgments the author writes:
“I'm telling a particular story, about the ominous turn of a cultural wheel toward something ugly. Something scary. As I undertook writing a Trad Wife novel, I quickly realized that I didn't want to poke fun at either the phenomenon or the women involved. Mockery is low hanging fruit. Attacking trad wives reinforces the pernicious belief that women deserve to be punished, put in their places, and judged. Who better to do that than other women? So no, this isn't a satire. It's a horror novel.”

Apparently Horror is not the author's strong suit. The "horror" is shallow and the "creepy factor" feels all to contrived, the whole thing is a bit of a mosh-pit featuring trad-wife, Mia, surfing the human wave. I can't help but agree with gr friend Berengaria when she commented, “Here's to hoping someone drops her 🤘."

OH! The HORROR here is that this novel, while identically titled and themed, and following a parallel story line, it's NOT the original Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer!
Perhaps this was the originally suspected April Fools Antic and yours truely was the biggest fool for reading this pseudo-plagiarism, expected publication date of 29 Sep 26!

btw I still do want to read the Saratoga Schaefer Trad Wife 💛🧚‍♀️🙋🏼.

[Brandy Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Toxic influencer storylines just aren’t really my thing, and this book leaned heavily into that vibe. It feels like one you’ll either have fun with or not connect to at all.

The main character, a writer/reporter, publishes something deeply personal that felt questionable. Even in that moment, the tone didn’t quite match the weight of what was being revealed.

There’s also a line where the FMC compares herself to a cum stain… which I mean sure.

Overall, the book felt longer than it needed to be. It technically spans about a week, but it dragged enough that it felt much longer, and getting to the twist took some effort. In the end, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Stasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I requested this ARC I actually thought I was requesting the other 2026 release titled Trad Wife, but I already loved Sarah’s previous work “Good Neighbors,” so let’s go!

This Trad Wife follows Jenny, a trolled & cancelled journalist hoping to get back on track with a piece on Mia Wright: a trad wife influencer living on Baller- I’m sorry- Black Swan Farms with her hot husband and brood of children. Obviously, things are not what they seem/Mia isn’t perfect/the family isn’t perfect/there’s a mystery.

It would be so easy for this to get derivative and corny, vilifying the inhabitants of the town into right wing stereotypes. There are moments where it toes the line, but Langan’s smart writing gives every character nuance and grace in the face of supernatural forces and regular patriarchy.

A lot of reviews say this is a slow burn, and I guess it takes awhile for the horror to kick in, but I was hooked from the introduction and found it a fast paced keep-you-up-all-night-reading book. The back story was interesting and served its purpose of making the horror so much more devastating when it did turn up into a heartbreaking and claustrophobic crescendo.

There were aspects I could pick apart, but those made it a 4.7999999/5, so full five stars for being so engaging. Langan can really write some characters.

[Lorin (paperbackbish) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Sarah and editor Loan for my manuscript copy of Trad Wife by Sarah Langan — available in the US in the fall, and in the UK on May 14! (I am constantly shocked by the absolute BOUNTY of friendships I've made in this book world, yes—screamed when I opened this package)

» READ IF YOU «
🙋‍♀️ have ever fallen down a trad wife TikTok rabbit hole
💧 keep a glass of water and lip balm on your nightstand
💛 view loss of your independence as a true horror story

» SYNOPSIS «
Jenny's had some recent ups and downs in her journalist career, and in an attempt to save it, she's taken on the story of a lifetime: living with influencer sensation Mia Wright, queen of the trad wives. Seven children, a loving husband, a perfect farm, and a flawless physique: does Mia really have it all? Or is something sinister truly running the show at Black Swan Farm?

» REVIEW «
JENNY! My girl. Listen, she’s not perfect—she makes some mistakes with the internet trolls, as we all have. And this trad wife story? It practically falls in her lap, at the request of Mia herself, and has the potential to be a huge exposé piece that will save her career. I’d go. You know you’d go too. And I love treadmills, okay?! Don’t worry, you’ll get that part later.

In perfect Sarah Langan fashion, the dread and horror of this story build slowly, almost in the background. There are little flashes of “wtf” here and there, but you’re simultaneously so invested in this glimpse inside a trad wife influencer’s life that you just…keep…going. Just like Jenny. And by the time it’s too late, you’re both in over your heads and barreling toward the true horrors. Since I’m an early reviewer, I won’t give anything away, but know this read is for you if you love small town horror, suffocating atmosphere, and a sprinkle of ancient folklore.

My personal favorite aspect of this book is the way Sarah handles the complicated topic of the trad wife movement. Because it’s not just Jenny that’s trapped—there are plenty of flesh and blood women pasting on TikTok smiles in an effort to hide their crushing realities. Hope these kinds of horror stories aren’t being told a decade from now. After this book earns out a few times, of course, Sarah 🤣

Add to your spooky season TBR, my US friends!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow. wow. what a slow burn that turned into a HUGE DUMPSTER FIRE (in a good way? i feel weird saying that because this is ultimately a horror novel so yeah, there is no “good way” other than the fact that i could nottttt put this down and i feel so deeply unsettled). thank you netgalley for this arc. i will be thinking of this book for days to come…

[She’s Stranger Than Fiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trad Wife takes the reader behind the scenes of social media influencers’ curated lives - or a fictional Trad Wife creator’s life anyway. There are cracks in the facade that become more and more evident given time. For women like Jenny, who want a more independent life, the trad wife lifestyle is a prison. Empathy, caring for children who must depend on an adult, the burden of pregnancy can be silken fetters. The fact that a woman’s bodily autonomy continues to be in question contributes to the horror. Jenny’s fear, frustration, anger, and helplessness feel very immediate and real. The trad wife lifestyle is attractive because it appears to be so simple. But, no life is really simple anymore.
Enough about that: I enjoyed this novel. It is well-written, dark, and tense and would be a good choice for a book club because it is bound to spark good conversations.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Langan's Trad Wife follows cancelled journalist Jenny Kaplan to Black Swan Farm where she is profiling trad wife influencer Mia Wright. The two women could not be less alike, and the potentially explosive exposé seems promising as a storyline.

I've always been taken in by Langan's writing, and this book was no different. I was hooked early on, and I found the read compelling for the first half. But as the story progressed, it began to feel drawn out and repetitive. There was obviously something sinister occurring, but the impact felt lessened by the slow pace. I was often discombobulated with the flow of the story, almost as if I was being dropped into scenarios in a dream-like fashion. Snapshots of situations that did not have an obvious beginning, middle, and/or end. Perhaps this was intentional by the author, but for me, it pulled me out of the story. I did, however, enjoy the ending.

Overall, this was a good read, if not a strong one, in my opinion. I will absolutely recommend to my horror reading friends, though, as I know my opinion may differ greatly from others.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Good Neighbors a couple of years ago and loved it, so I was excited to dive into another Sarah Langan. I really enjoyed this one too — my only issue was with the ending. Personally, I prefer my horror to be a little mysterious and leave me with some questions, but the mystery in this one is very very explicitly explained. This was fun though! Does a great job with making the situation Jenny’s in gradually more and more unsettling. The horror here is supernatural, but it’s also very real — trad wives ARE scary. Would definitely recommend this one!

[Chelsea Pittman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second 2026 Trad Wife book of the year. You can definitely tell it’s a hot topic and a really interesting one.

Unless you’ve been living offline, you’ve most likely seen the trad wife trend circulating social media. Women who are reverting back to “traditional” places in the household by cooking all homemade, non toxic cleaning products and, most importantly, putting their husbands first. They also have a habit of not wanting their children on social media while also documenting most of their lives on social media.

I’m happy that the horror world has taken on this topic. Revealing just how scary it can be. This book lures you in and makes you feel crazy at times trying to discover what is really going on with Mia Wright and Black Swan Farm. I feel like Jenny is a character many readers will see themselves in.

The cover perfectly depicts the tranquility of the farm while showcases the darkness at hand. I tried reading The Missing and found it a little too dark for me but this one finds a good balance that I think readers will be scared by but not too disgusted.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Langan, and Atria Books for the opportunity to read Trad Wife. I have written this review voluntarily and honestly.

[Bella Colamarco · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVE LOVE LOVE💖
This book exceeded my expectations! I did not expect the ending to be what happened! This is my first book by Sarah Langan and it’s definitely not my last!

I did notice a lot of grammar/punctuation errors that unfortunately took me out of the story a bit.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for a review copy!!!

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jenny Kaplan thought she had turned her career around with her autobiographical journal piece “Drano”, giving an expose on living with her mentally disturbed (now ex) fiancé and getting an abortion. But backlash soon comes and she finds herself without a job and extremely low on money. Her old boss offers her a freelance job: interview Mia Wright, a “trad wife” who has gone viral for her traditional views online. Once she’s there, however, Jenny slowly starts to realize not everything is as perfect as it seems and the household seems to be unraveling…. Literally.

Wow. This is one I had a hard time putting down. I thought the idea of trad wife x horror was clever given the current world politics, and it did not disappoint. I was deeply immersed in the story and even recommended it to a friend before i finished it. In my heart of hearts I would have ended it slightly sooner than the actual ending (cause sometimes the horror of a situation is just perfect) but I did like the ending overall.

Recommended if you like: horror, magical elements

I received an advanced copy of this novel via NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the horror I was expecting.

This horror creeps up on you slowly & so stealthily that you’re in too deep before you know it & can’t get back.
Which is basically what happens to our FMC Jenny.

It’s not a guts & gore kinda horror. But a psychological horror with an added twist of old folklore & old magic. Intense, atmospheric & dark. It gets a bit weird at times & there’s some definite WTF moments but I became so invested in Jenny & Mia that I couldn’t stop reading.

The ending is not the ending you expect & I think that is what floored me the most. Like most people, I’m fascinated with the Trad Wife lifestyle/movement/trend but the author is really clever in her writing that she doesn’t take the piss out of it or glorify it. She definitely makes you question it though 🤨

No spoilers here I’m afraid, I want you all to pre order it & read it for yourself 🫢 Although you’ll never look at cherries or hear a ‘clap’ the same way again 😉

Eternal thanks to @libraryofchlo & @bookbreakuk for sending me this arc. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading & reviewing it 🥰

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a whole mood, a vibe, an eeriness of setting and character that builds and descends into true horror. Not a horror with jump scares, but one that burrows slowly into your bones and whispers “it’s worse than you think!”

Of course the author pokes fun at the whole trad wife thing and the cult of worship around them, of the back-to-the-kitchen Christian nationalist agenda, but this isn’t a book that’s anti-women. Rather, it shows the double bind all women are in in a misogynist society, how following the rules has its benefits, and that sometimes the further you crawl from the prison of prescribed femininity, the harder you fall when the hand of the patriarchy inevitably snatches you back. The challenges our main character faces as a woman who rejects the traditional and attempts to be a different kind of woman, a woman we can more relate to and respect, are not enviable. She does not have it all figured out. The story isn’t just metaphor though (the yellow wallpaper here is literal) - the author gives us real ghosts and ghouls. But underneath is the quiet, uncomfortable truth that being a woman is its own horror.

This is a sloooow burn but don’t worry, the last 25% goes metal.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC! This is an honest, subjective review.

[Dallas Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really didn’t like this in the beginning. By the end, I was pretty hooked. What started out as one book, wildly morphed into another and I was pretty impressed by the deeper horror that was to be found in this seemingly campy novel about trad wives.

My critiques are as follows:

The beginning is far too drawn out for the reader. I didn’t feel compelled to continue the story, therefore I could see a lot of people starting this, not realizing what it is and putting it down. I understand the author had a lot of puzzle pieces to connect, but I think it should have been simpler in the beginning, cut out the meaningless stuff and get to the good-ins. I didn’t remember half of the stuff that was talked about on the front end and we came back around to it anyways.

It’s too complicated without making a whole lot of sense. There’s like a whole backstory/myth where the horror comes in that went right over my head. I wish it had been better explained or just left open to interpretation by the reader.

A personal critique - the author makes a point to say this book was not meant to make fun of trad wives, that every woman deserves the right and freedom to choose their story. I think she failed a bit here. This book very much made light of trad wives. While there was a GREAT horror story, with sooo much suspense here, it was often overshadowed by the campy cheesy vibes of the trad wife debacle. I think it would have been so much better if we lost the “ballerina farm” facade and let this be just unique in its’ own way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Shefali · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

Horror is not a genre I am super familiar with, so I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting into when I started this book. However, I found it to be less "horror movie" and more creepy and unsettling. I have been loving all the trad wife novels lately, so I was excited to read this! It took me less than a day to finish because I wanted to know so badly what was going to happen. It kept me engaged overall, but there were certain areas in the middle of the book that dragged. I also don't feel like the ending gave me what I was looking for. I knew there wouldn't be a happy ending where everything went back to normal and I don't even know exactly what I was hoping for, but it just fell flat for me. Overall a fun read though and I appreciate NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC!

[Marisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The description of the book drew me in right away, especially given the recent rise, and criticism, of the “trad wife” influencers. I was also interested to see this author’s take on it since there are other books being released with this as the focus.

The story became more and more eerie as it continued. It actually gave me The Skeleton Key vibes, that something wasn’t quite right beneath the surface. I will definitely be watching that movie again soon.

I did enjoy the storytelling, there was just something that kept me turning the pages. However, I did feel that some parts dragged on but eventually I realized why some parts were repetitive. Annoying at the time but it makes perfect sense once everything is revealed.

There were many layers to this book and its characters, it would probably make a great movie. I’ll be looking into this author’s other works if they are anything like this.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

[Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid 3 stars. The first half pulled me in pretty quickly because I liked the difference of our female main characters, Jenny and Mia. I feel like that was a first for me in this becoming popular Trad Wife horror sub genre. But once I figured out what was going on, which didn’t take long…the second half dragged. ⁣
⁣
It’s very straight forward, a good execution of an idea. It just didn’t leave a huge impact. Not bad, entertaining, but just lacking a certain pizazz I was looking for.

[Trisha]

Loooving these new horror themes!! Can't wait to read this!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

[Brittani Roudybush · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun read. I loved that the beginning read as little as lit fic then really just got into the horror of it all. Really kept you guessing, and also made you think about the deeper themes.

[Mai H.]

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books

[Gariele Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trad Wife had an excellent concept. Timely, current, real and believable in this cultural climate.

But to me, there was no tension. I felt like I was spending time with boring characters I wouldn’t actually spend time with in real life. It moves slowly — s l o w l y . . .

70% through and you’re on day 5. It’s a lot of content for little pay-off. I was not invested emotionally. Which is the whole reason I read at all.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for a review!

[Ed Crocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The genius of horror fiction, and why it’s one of the most important ways we can try and understand the veritable smorgasbord of horrors we charitably call the 21st century, or its most recent depressing incarnation the 2020s, is that old horror sub genres that have existed for centuries can be called into action to explain strange new and worrying phenomena. One example is how the old Cosmic Horror traditions of Lovecraft or Chambers are being used to explore the rise of AI and new tech—the old terrifying gods, meet the new annoying gods. Another is the new Trad Wife sub-genre boom in horror, and the perfect vehicle of Gothic horror to explore it. The Trad Wife boom is a trend largely enacted on social media whereby women promote more traditional gender roles, often focusing on homemaking, cooking, Christianity and submission to their husbands. With Trad Wife, Sarah Langan has used Gothic horror’s strong history of examining the patriarchal control over women to create an instant classic. If you think this is a satire, then think again, though: Langan’s not here to make fun of trad wives, she’s here to take on the system itself, and how women can’t win in it, and to do so she’s given us one of the most original, unhinged finales in a horror you’ll read this year. Buckle in, people, this one gets mad and I couldn’t look away.

The plot of Trad Wife revolves around two seemingly opposing forces. In the one corner we have journalist Jenny Kaplan, who, despite a hit article about her experiences with her mentally unwell ex and her abortion, is now seeing her career on the slide after some incel-toxic pushback. In the other corner, we have Mia Wright, a hugely successful trad wife and mother of seven (with another on the way) whose videos about her life on the seeming pastoral bliss of Black Swan Farm have made her an icon. Jenny sees Mia as her path back to journalism success, especially after she suspects that she may be a complete fraud. But things quickly don’t turn out that simple, as something is very, very wrong on the farm—the children aren’t acting right, there’s a strange lingering stench, and rumours of ancient witchcraft, and Jenny’s decision to stay the whole week may turn out to be a very, very bad one indeed.

First off, this an utterly, utterly creepy book, that in the best traditions of the Gothic begins with subtle signs of unease and ultimately descends into demented chaos. From the moment Jenny arrives on Black Swan Farm, Langan seeds in sinister clues of what might be wrong, whether it be the strange cherry-flavoured lip balm that cures Jenny’s curiously dry lips when she wakes in the morning or the strange facial tics of Mia the trad wife, or the bizarre illnesses that suddenly beset the animals. Langan manages to sustain this bizarre dichotomy of Jenny’s submersion in the normal daily routine of farm life even though nothing at all seems to make sense for so long, it felt like I was going a little mad. Which turned out to be excellent preparation for the final act, which is completely bonkers, and owes just as much to the Cosmic as to the Gothic, and had my jaw dropped beneath my floorboards as the real masterplan is revealed.

This was also a fascinating book as it didn’t go anywhere near where I thought it would thematically. There was a very easy open path to satire. Everything about the trad wife lifestyle feels hypocritical: The patronising husband, the financial books-cooking, the social media performances. But Langan’s not here to take the easy route of attacking the trad wife at the centre of it. She’s here to attack the power systems behind it that means that women are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Feminist hero Jenny and internet icon Mia are both trapped in their own ways, and Langan suggests that the culture wars that society wants us to fall into might not be the best way to approach this, and instead examines how women must instead achieve power in their own imperfect ways. It all makes for a finale as thematically fascinating as it is utterly, gloriously demented.

A compelling take on the trad wife phenomenon that eschews the easy satirical takedown and goes instead for the gothic horror potboiler approach that is pro-women but anti-system, the unhinged, terrifying finale of Trad Wife is one of the true horror experiences of the summer that are you simply not prepared for.

[Nicole Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Trad Wife” by Sarah Langan is one of those books that starts off feeling like a sharp social commentary and then slowly spirals into full-on nightmare fuel. This was definitely more of a horror story than I was expecting from seemed like a standard “trad wife” thriller, including some body horror.

The story follows Jenny, a journalist whose life basically implodes after she goes viral for a personal essay and then gets brutally “canceled” by a misogynistic online mob. Desperate to save her career, she agrees to write an exposé on Mia, a wildly popular trad wife influencer who seems to have the perfect life with a beautiful farm, obedient kids, devoted husband, the whole aesthetic.

Except nothing about Black Swan Farm is actually perfect.

At first, the horror is subtle. Mia is weirdly compelling; she’s not the polished, flawless influencer you’d expect, which somehow makes her even more unsettling. She’s constantly getting hurt on camera in ways that feel staged, pushing this idea of relatable imperfection while clearly manipulating her audience. Jenny knows something is off, but she also finds herself weirdly drawn in, which adds this creeping sense of dread.

The book does a really good job digging into trad wife culture and how toxic it can be. It calls out the hypocrisy, the anti-feminist messaging, and especially how it preys on vulnerable women through things like pyramid schemes. But it’s not just “this lifestyle is bad.” It’s more about how all women are kind of trapped in a system that punishes them no matter what choices they make.

And then things get very strange.

What starts as a creepy, slow-burn critique of influencer culture turns into something much darker and more surreal. There’s a curse tied to Mia’s family, a local legend about a woman burned at the stake, and this constant sense that something is deeply wrong with the house itself. Animals start dying, the farm begins to rot, the kids act increasingly unsettling, and Jenny starts changing too. Like, physically.

The body horror in this book is no joke (including a pregnancy body horror aspect I was not expecting). Jenny slowly becoming a version of Mia is one of the most disturbing parts, especially as her mental state starts slipping. There’s this constant question of what’s real vs. what’s manipulation vs. what’s supernatural, and the book leans hard into that confusion. By the second half, everything feels off, like Jenny (and you, as the reader) are stuck in a fog you can’t escape.

Also worth mentioning: Jenny can be frustrating. She notices a lot of red flags and doesn’t really act on them. But honestly, it kind of works with the themes of control and manipulation. It feels less like “bad decision-making” and more like she’s being slowly pulled into something she can’t fully resist.

By the time the horror fully hits, it’s intense. We’re talking curses, possession, something called “Mr. Yellow, ”and a whole lot of dread. It’s not jump-scare horror; it’s the kind that builds and builds until it’s just deeply unsettling.

The ending? Classic horror. It’s dark, a little ambiguous, and definitely not a neat, happy resolution. There’s some satisfaction in seeing the truth come out, but the overall feeling is more like…this isn’t over. The cycle is still continuing.

Overall, this is a very unique mix of social commentary and supernatural horror. It’s slow at first, a bit confusing at times, and definitely not for everyone. But if you like weird, unsettling stories that say something about real-world issues (especially around gender roles and social media), this one is worth it. Just don’t expect to feel comfortable while reading it.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

2026 is the year that horror takes on the Trad Wife trend and I’m here for it. Positioned initially as a domestic thriller, Trad Wife by Sarah Langan takes us on an unsettling journey to Black Swan Farm. Prepped as she may be to draw back the polished glow of the farm, and Mia Wright, to expose its nasty underbelly, our narrator and journalist Jenny Kaplan descends into what quickly becomes a rotten horror story of curses and slithering things.

Thank you to PanMacmillan and Tor Nightfire for the early copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book doesn’t mock the ‘trad wife’ trend, but rather shows it for what it is: a movement sparked by politics and propaganda, rising evangelicalism, strict ideologies and oppressive patriarchal gender stereotypes. Combine that with the notion of a town haunted by a generations-old curse, and an outside POV a la cancelled journalist seeking a redemptive byline, and you’ve got yourself a trad wife book with a unique take.

Initially, I did worry that adding a folkloric/superstitious element to this book would diminish the very real, very harmful connotations of this movement. That it would offer a metaphoric excuse for the type of narrative that goes hand in hand with the rollback of bodily autonomy and reproductive rights. I worried that by making the root of Black Swan Farm something other than human, it would allow blame to be solely placed upon this factor, rather than the humans in the story - and in real life - who perpetuate and enable this movement of “putting women back in their place”.

I don’t think, however, this worry wound up being confirmed. Langan’s Trad Wife gives us a compelling and entirely human-focused story - sure it dissolves about 2/3 of the way into a hectic gothic-adjacent horror where absolutely no one is safe from the slithering power that be controlling Black Swan Farm and more besides. But it doesn’t shift away from the very real implications of this movement, the people it hurts, and the active dissemination of this narrative by people.

There is an insidious quality to the story, which I think best describes this movement in general. The creeping of it around the edges until it’s garnering views and front and centre, bold as brass. The novel taps into the rot at the heart of this outwardly perfect and idyllic picture of a type of modern femininity; which I think perfectly encapsulates the dark roots of this seemingly “ideal” way for women to be, when rights are being rolled back, hard won barely-there equalities removed and progressive narratives overshadowed by hard right conservatives.

I did think, however, that our act two could have been shorter, feeling a little like the tension lagged. While the repetition made sense, narratively and thematically, when I’d finished, I felt that the last segment coukd have done with more time to flesh out the consequences for all, as I found this a bit rushed in comparison to how much time we had spent on days 1-3 of Jenny’s time with Mia. I would also have liked a little more time spent on how the supporting characters fit into this horrid little scheme at Black Swan, to add to that sense of claustrophobia.

Despite this, I was compelled to finish, addicted to the story (maybe it’s the cherries through the page), and the inevitable ending only left me with a a sense of bleakness. The exact same that I feel when I consider the real resurgence of oppressive patriarchal roles and moral puritanism covered over with squeaky clean kitchens and an aversion to painkillers.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I see you..."

"Trad wife" influencer Mia Wright, of Black Swan Farm in rural Pennsylvania, has a fanatically devoted following - both locally, in Sylvan Village, and far beyond. Her videos showing life at the farm are hugely popular, even if they do often seem to involve some form of accident. Her husband is handsome, her children apparently well-behaved and thriving. Her adoring network of "ambassadors" for Black Swan cherry-scented products make money for her, if not for them. They love Mia, though - she makes them feel seen. Everyone loves Mia, it seems.

Journalist Jenny Kaplan is a completely different kind of woman - career-oriented, her only family her sister Melissa, who she basically raised. Her long-term relationship has collapsed in madness and grief. When a piece Jenny writes about her life goes viral, its early success quickly sours. She's targeted by trolls, particularly a group who call themselves "The Brotherhood" - and far from supporting her, her employer finds it easier to yield to pressure, and fires her. Her only lifeline is the not-particularly-alluring offer to write a piece on trad wife Mia, a woman Jenny can't relate to in any way. Still, Mia is beautiful and welcoming, the farm charming, the children delightful, even if Jenny has already spotted some discrepancies in the image.

Somewhat against her better judgement, Jenny agrees to return to the farm for a week to write an in-depth piece, at the end of which she and Mia will "swap lives" for a day. But it soon becomes clear that things at the heart of Black Swan are far darker and stranger than she could ever have suspected, and there is no help to be found outside of it.

Animals are sick, buildings are rotting, the children - seven of them, from sixteen-year-old Victoria to baby Isaac - are troubled and strange. Pregnant Mia drinks strong alcohol, exercises frenetically, hints at something incomprehensible. Jenny's room smells of something horrible. The yellow wallpaper - clearly referencing the Charlotte Perkins Gilman story, which has parallels here - seems to contain messages she can't decipher.

And something, or someone, is slithering in the shadows....

It's not long before we're into all-out horror territory.

Jenny and Mia's story left me with a lot of thoughts and questions. There's a theme about how women are controlled, coerced and fitted into rigid roles, both historically and in the present day - and not only externally but also internally - the repeated phrase "the call is coming from inside the house" is deeply significant. Systems that look voluntary and attractive can still be deeply controlling. Is it possible to break free? The ending is dark, but has elements of hope.

While the story goes beyond the more familiar territory of the gap between (social media) performance and reality, it's still a strong depiction of how a carefully constructed illusion can mask control, exploitation, and deep emotional damage. What looks like choice may be shaped by invisible but powerful social, economic, and historical forces, represented here in various ways. Is Mr Yellow - the controller, the enforcer of rules - real? I don't know. Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe he's the nightmare version of the trad wife ideal - what it's like, at its most extreme, from the inside.

[Harry Chilcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the year of the Trad Wife. No, not the actual online movement of pre-feminist gender roles, where the woman stays at home and raises the family, cooks, cleans, praises God (but a specific ideal of a Christian god), and dotes on the bread-winning husband*. I mean that this is the year of unsettling books with the title Trad Wife. We had Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer (a book I loved and will be talking about soon), and we will be getting The Trad Wife by Carrie Hughes (a book I haven’t read yet). Today, however, I am talking about Trad Wife by Sarah Langan.

Let’s start it off simple; this book slaps. It’s fire. It’s 6 7, or whatever the kids are saying these days. Anyway, it’s a deeply unsettling book that slowly peels back its layers like a home-grown onion and it never seemed to go in the direction I thought it would go, and I loved it for that!

But what is Trad Wife about? Journalist Jenny Kaplan is reeling from the reaction to a viral essay she published online when she is given the opportunity to interview Mia Wright, a Trad Wife influencer with millions of followers, her own cosmetics business, a working farm to run, and a family of 8 kids with another on the way.

Jenny and Mia are opposites, and their interactions are filled with perceived slights (at least, what we can gather from Jenny’s POV), however, this isn’t just filled with catty attacks on each other. Jenny is there to do a job, and Mia obviously wants her image and brand perceived in a particular way, so of course these two work professionally together (at least at first), and Jenny helps with little things around the homestead and is empathetic towards Mia as a hardworking mother, pragmatic business woman, and online celebrity, so it feels very grounded and real. I think it’s also a delight to experience where the book takes the horror, and to mention some of the things that happen or even the flavour that bubbles to the surface around the midpoint can hinder your enjoyment. I’ll just say this; the book starts with a prologue that set this up as being a domestic thriller, and a large swath of the first half grounds this in a clear reality. What the book then morphs into – and in a way that is so natural and so subtle that I didn’t realise what was happening until it was too late for me and Jenny – is a chilling, gross, and downright unnerving neo-gothic horror.

Trad Wife tackles the ideas of the trad-wife, and the issues and negative messaging surrounding this niche of internet culture, particularly its effect on the women in these roles, regardless of if they want to be an active part in it or not. It explores the isolating nature of trad-wives, how it feeds into the worst of patriarchal control over women’s bodies and the forceful nature that often ensues from this level of control. Watching these elements of the trad-wife lifestyle seep their way into Jenny’s world bit by broken bit isn’t something I noticed as the book went on, but looking back once you get to the end, you’ll see these breadcrumbs strewn throughout.

All in all, Trad Wife is an excellent exploration of its title topic, and how lacking in personal control this “mindset” really is. It’s eerie, chilling, gross, and truly disquieting. Sarah Langan has written a bop (another thing that the kids say, apparently), and Trad Wife is one of 2026’s most exciting, important, and impactful horror novels.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire for the review copy! Trad Wife releases May 14th.

*A quick note: it is important to mention that there is a difference between a Trad Wife and that whole movement vs a housewife/stay-at-home-mom (or the idea of one half of a relationship irrespective of gender not going to a traditional workplace to focus on raising a family and maintaining the homelife). These distinctions are usually rooted in anti-feminist ideals, strict religious ideology, and an online aesthetic that can be very judgemental (all mixed together with a sprinkling of racism).

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The call is coming from inside the house.

I was a little unsure when I saw the blurb whether this would be too similar to Yesteryear, but while they both tackle the zeitgeisty topic of the Trad Wife phenomenon, they do it in a complementary manner. Langan goes down a cursed house/supernatural route though the repeated motif of the yellow wallpaper adds a nice touch of Charlotte Perkins Gilman-style ambiguity that adds to the aura of the book.

The horror is slow-burn and I'm not completely sure we needed as much back-story on Jenny as we actually got, just as her repeated dream-sequences (... or are they?) can get a little tiresome until they start to genuinely move the story on.

But once the book gets going, it turns out to be more thoughtful about present cultural pressures on idealised traditions of femininity and their sinister implications. It's especially clear-sighted about how these coercive tensions and anxieties are being co-opted by other women, policing and judging each other and spreading a patriarchal narrative that serves to confine and constrain, rather than liberate or offer up genuine alternative options. The passing down of the imposed and involuntary curse/possession from woman to woman makes this especially clear and even the promise of immortality and witchy power doesn't compensate for the horrors of Mr Yellow or what happens en route to the transition.

This definitely hits that sweet spot of being both a page-turner and something more deliberate and politicised in the widest sense. Gestures towards The Yellow Wallpaper and Rosemary’s Baby herald the creepy horror credentials but, like those earlier books, there is an underlying cultural critique that raises this beyond just entertainment.

Many thanks to Pan Macmillan for an ARC via NetGalley

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way I snagged this immediately the moment I got the marketing email and put it right on top of the TBR!! Sarah Langan's A Better World is a great favorite of mine, and I loved Pam Kowolski is a Monster too.

This was a fascinating grab bag of folk horror, social commentary, modern economic realities, an elegy for journalism, the very Gen Z feeling that being in your early thirties is the absolute washed-up end of the line...

What struck me most of all is how this was ultimately a story, to me, about how women sell each other out for their own gain. From the very concept of trad wife influencing ("Subjugate yourself like I do and let a man take care of you! Also buy my products") and selling an ideal that is NOT realistically going to end well for many, many women, to the overwhelmingly female-driven scam of MLMs, to so many of the woman-to-woman interactions in this book - Mia trading Jenny for her own freedom, Victoria betraying Jenny for her own selfish reasons (GOD, that one killed me), Jenny inevitably trading in her newfound audience and her soul to get free.

We see so many expressions of patriarchy in this novel-the almost benign stupidity of Mia's husband, the medical gaslighting of her in-laws, the overarching patriarchal structures of the modern world that have made it possible for trad wives to get a hold on the culture-but it's the contrast that kills me.

Men have each other. Women, well, ultimately I guess we have nobody.

Brutal and thought-provoking, even though some of the thoughts are just AAAAH OH GOD WE'RE FUCKED WE'RE FUCKED WE'RE FUCKED. Rating-wise, while I generally treasure Langan's ability to find something shining in the bleakness of it all, and I could have forgiven the lack of it here (even if I do kind of want to just go lie down and the stare blankly at the ceiling for awhile), I feel like there was a liiiiiittle too much going on in terms of little plot threads I found interesting that were never expanded upon to my satisfaction. And although I did like her as a character, I would have liked for Jenny to be more of a character who does things, rather than a character to whom things happen and then she deals with it. I recommend this book nevertheless, though!

My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trad Wife follows Jenny, a journalist yearning to find her place and carve her way into the publishing industry even more so after her work went viral. Her next big story leads her to Mia Wright, insanely popular trad wife influencer, to see if her videos are too good to be true...

As an avid horror/thriller lover, I rarely get to read books that genuinely creep me out some, but this one did so. The last ~25% of the book I sped through in one sitting, unable to put it down. Maybe it was the way it connected to me on such a deep level, how Jenny felt in her situation at the end of the novel, and how I would feel similarly stuck in the same situation.

Many of the other reviews I looked at wrote that the pacing was weird and confusing. I believe that this was the author's intention. Jenny herself didn't know what was going on. She had confusing dreams and I feel the missing time in the book represented the missing time periods Jenny herself began experiencing.

As I was finishing the novel, I began disconnecting from it on a personal level and looked at it on a broader level: what the story was telling us about society and women in general. It dives into the varying shades of women and their "roles" in our society without (for the most part) putting shame on those who pursue being a trad wife and those who strive outside of those constraints. However, in my opinion, writing this as a cult-like, cursed, town, with women being roped into a trad wife position by preying on their concern for children (that aren't even theirs mind you; other than the one that gets magically inserted into their womb - gag), makes it seem like the horror comes from being a trad wife to begin with, with the extra horror added on by Mr. Yellow. There better be some sort of continuation in this (maybe Veronica returning and defeating him?), because otherwise it ending with Jenny submitting to Mr. Yellow feeds into the patriarchy.

Overall, what really made this a horror for me is how for myself, the trad wife lifestyle would be a fate worse than death, and how some of the explanations behind what was occurring at Black Swan were not fully fleshed out - still slightly confusing and scary at the same time.

Some of my next reads will be more of Sarah Langan's thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-ARC in return for an honest review.