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    The Four Ms. Bradwells
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    The Four Ms. Bradwells
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    The Four Ms. Bradwells
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Four Ms. Bradwells

    Written by Meg Waite Clayton

    Narrated by Karen White

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Mia, Laney, Betts and Ginger, best friends since law school, have reunited for a long weekend as Betts waits for Senate confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court. Nicknamed 'the Ms. Bradwells' during their first class at law school in 1979, the four have supported one another through life's challenges: marriages and divorces, births and deaths, career setbacks and triumphs large and small. But when the Senate hearings uncover a deeply buried skeleton in the friends' collective closet, the Ms. Bradwells retreat to a summer house on the Chesapeake Bay, where they find themselves reliving a much darker period in their past - one that stirs up secrets they've kept for, and from, one another, and could change their lives forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateMar 22, 2011
    ISBN9781611201154
    Unavailable
    The Four Ms. Bradwells
    Author

    Meg Waite Clayton

    Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, including The Postmistress of Paris (a Publisher’s Weekly notable book; HarperCollins, Nov. 30, 2021), the National Jewish Book Award finalist and international bestseller The Last Train to London, the Langum Award honoree The Race for Paris, the Bellwether Prize finalist The Language of Light, and The Wednesday Sisters, an Entertainment Weekly 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. Her novels have been published in 23 languages. She has also written more than 100 essays, opinions, and reviews for major newspapers, magazines, and public radio. She mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. megwaiteclayton.com

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    Reviews for The Four Ms. Bradwells

    3/5

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    • 3/5
      Four women lawyers! Squeee! I definitely want to read this book, and I'm crossing my fingers that it lives up to my expectations.
      ------------------------------------------------------------------------
      So unfortunately, I got positively buried at work while in the middle of this, and as a result never got completely immersed. However, I think it was a bad choice for the author to give multiple names/nicknames to each of the four main characters -- it made it much harder to keep track of who was who. For instance, Mary Ellen = Mia, while Helen = Laney, and Elsbieta = Betts. THEN each of the four ALSO has a "Ms. Bradwell" nickname (Ms. Decisis-Bradwell, Ms. Drug-Lord-Bradwell, etc.), which are just too long to have worked as nicknames in real life. Have you ever known someone with a multi-word, multi-syllable, not-catchy-or-rhyming nickname? I haven't. I think you can get away with calling a group "The Ms Bradwells", sure, but having individual Bradwell-related nickname is just a conceit that I would have expected to end up on the publishing house floor (or whatever the literary equivalent is of a cutting room floor in film).

      It's kindof a small point, but I really think it hampered my ability to stop trying to figure out which girl was which, and just relate without thinking too hard about it.

      Ultimately the plot was pretty good; there's a little mystery at the heart of it that kept me guessing all the way through. I just wish I'd ended up liking even one of the characters enough to... well, to care what happened to her by the end of the novel. But I didn't, not really. I mean, I didn't hate any of them, but they all just left me feeling pretty meh. Which is surprising, because generally I can't get enough of smart, opinionated, accomplished women.

      To be frank, maybe the overt feminism (much as I support it) was part of the problem -- any time a book gets too preachy, whether for conservative or liberal ideals, I think it necessarily sacrifices some of the characters' likeability and alienates the [fiction] reader by pulling you out of the story and into the real world, where you think about what the author was trying to get you think, exactly.
    • 2/5
      Won this one in a Goodreads Giveaway. After 50 pages this has been a real struggle for me. This is usually something that I would love. I enjoy changing narratives, and a story told both in flashbacks and in real time. This is the story of four friends that have shared secrets for almost thirty years. When one of the friends is up for Supreme Court nomination an innocent question causes the secrets to come tumbling out. I liked the book more as it progressed. I didn't particularly like any of the characters. They all seemed extremely mean and selfish. The night in question causes issues for each of them.I can't say that this is a book I would tell everyone to read.
    • 3/5
      Spending three days at Chawterely House was going to be memory-filled, fun, and somewhat painful for Betts, Ginger, Laney, and Mia. They were going to spend some time together while Betts waits for the confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court.The house was only accessible by boat, the girls had spent many summers and spring breaks there, and it hadn't been lived in since Ginger's mother, Faith, had died. The description of the house and its many rooms made you envious of all the parties and family gatherings that most likely had taken place there. Their first night was spent reminiscing and getting reacquainted for what in all likelihood was the last time they would see each other for a while.The following morning a news article appeared in the paper that possibly would have an impact on Betts' nomination. Everyone realizes what might happen because of the article, and they go to the lighthouse to re-live the first spring break they spent on the island and trust that reporters don't make their way to the remote island.The reporters do make it to the island, things get a little tense among friends, and secrets become revealed after 30 years of keeping them hidden from each other. The book really didn't get interesting until a little over half way into the book...it was about lasting friendships and how friends overlook each other's faults sometimes for a good reason and sometimes not. Even though Clayton had a clever idea of having flashbacks of a scene that panned to the same scene happening in the present, the book was very confusing and wasn't easy to follow. I found myself having to keep checking back to see who was talking and what was actually taking place. It seemed as if there were some kind of inside secret that wasn't being revealed to the reader. I really enjoyed THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS, and was expecting the same in this book. 3/5.
    • 3/5
      This book was some what disapponting as I enjoyed The Wednesday Sisters so much. I did like the characters but too much latin prose!
    • 2/5
      I wanted to like this book, but found it too difficult to follow, so gave up.
    • 1/5
      I was really excited when the library emailed me letting me know that this book was available to be checked out. I was really looking forward to reading this book almost to the point where I was considering purchasing the ebook. Sad to say the wait was the best part of this reading experience. I guess I can't really say I read this book because I stopped reading at page 52 (ebook on the iPad). I love to read and this book was just too confusing. It was difficult to figure out which of the 4 main characters in the book I was reading about. I feel that reading is supposed to be relaxing not work. I am so glad that this was a library rental and not a purchase.
    • 1/5
      Unfortunately, I did not like this book. The writing style was lacking and I just couldn't stay focused the story enough to finish the book. However, that being said, I will continue to try books from this author as it could be that this book is just not for me.
    • 3/5
      Wanted to like it even more. There's a lot here for women to think about but it is slow developing and perhaps too many of the cliches of womens literature for me.
    • 3/5
      Spending three days at Chawterely House was going to be memory-filled, fun, and somewhat painful for Betts, Ginger, Laney, and Mia. They were going to spend some time together while Betts waits for the confirmation of her appointment to the Supreme Court.The house was only accessible by boat, the girls had spent many summers and spring breaks there, and it hadn't been lived in since Ginger's mother, Faith, had died. The description of the house and its many rooms made you envious of all the parties and family gatherings that most likely had taken place there. Their first night was spent reminiscing and getting reacquainted for what in all likelihood was the last time they would see each other for a while.The following morning a news article appeared in the paper that possibly would have an impact on Betts' nomination. Everyone realizes what might happen because of the article, and they go to the lighthouse to re-live the first spring break they spent on the island and trust that reporters don't make their way to the remote island.The reporters do make it to the island, things get a little tense among friends, and secrets become revealed after 30 years of keeping them hidden from each other. The book really didn't get interesting until a little over half way into the book...it was about lasting friendships and how friends overlook each other's faults sometimes for a good reason and sometimes not. Even though Clayton had a clever idea of having flashbacks of a scene that panned to the same scene happening in the present, the book was very confusing and wasn't easy to follow. I found myself having to keep checking back to see who was talking and what was actually taking place. It seemed as if there were some kind of inside secret that wasn't being revealed to the reader. I really enjoyed THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS, and was expecting the same in this book. 3/5.
    • 2/5
      Read from February 28 to March 05, 2011I didn't really start to enjoy this book until 80 pages in. It seems I could never quite put together which character I was getting the story from. Then I thought it got better, but it quickly fell apart.The story is about 4 women who have been friends since law school. They came together when Betts is going through the process of becoming a Supreme Court justice. Then we find out that there's a potential problem. The four women were at a house where an accident (murder? suicide?) took place during their last year of law school. We find out as the story progresses that the man found dead was also a totally jerk-off --really horrible man-- for many reasons. The disconnect for me was why it was a big deal. I understand that he did a bad thing, but only 5 people knew. And I feel like we were never given a conclusion. If it wasn't an accident, who killed him? I didn't love this book (in fact, I wanted to abandon it)...it was really just OK.
    • 3/5
      I was somewhat disappointed - possibly because I had loved Meg's other books sooo much. It got very hung upon the Latin prose and felt bogged down by legalise. The story line was good and I enjoyed the characters.
    • 4/5
      I don't know why I am giving this four stars. I kind of didn't like the writing style and after a while I started feeling like I was at a women's civil rights rally. In the end, I'm not sure what happened (was this a mystery?) But you know, sometimes its not about where you're going but the getting there. I have no idea where Ms. Clayton took me but it was a memorable ride. This review is probably not very clear. Neither is the book. But you might like it anyway. I did.
    • 1/5
      I cannot express my disappointment in this book. The characters are difficult to relate to and the book has no resolution. The whole story builds up to who, if anyone, committed a murder and even that is left up to interpretation. The premise was promising, but the writing was so dry that I quickly lost interest. It took me months to finish this book because I kept finding other things to read so I wouldn't have to read it. The only thing that kept me going was the "mystery" and once I got to the "resolution", I was very glad it was almost over because otherwise I would not have finished it.
    • 5/5
      In Meg Waite Clayton's latest, we are again introduced to a group of friends, but instead of watching their friendship grow like we did in The Wednesday Sisters, we find ourselves in the midst of a friendship already decades in the making. Mia, Laney, Betts, and Ginger have been friends since their days in law school, when they were all dubbed "the Ms. Bradwells" by their professor in their very first class at the University of Michigan Law School. We first meet the Four Ms. Bradwells during Senate hearings to appoint Betts to the Supreme Court, except a skeleton in their closet is uncovered from early on in their friendship that may hinder Betts' appointment. This skeleton also raises questions about their friendship and who has kept secrets from who over the years.Clayton also raises other issues in her book, including those of women's rights, but I'll leave the main issue that she brings to her story a secret, because it is this issue that ties everything together in the book, and I don't want to give it away. Needless to say, the secret has to do with a death, and this is the crux of the skeleton in the friends' closet that they need to overcome. The secret is brought up in the very first chapter so you're not kept waiting, and it's presented in a completely intriguing and compelling manner, making you want to find out what happened.One of the aspects that I enjoyed most about The Wednesday Sisters that is carried over into The Four Ms. Bradwells is that I felt like I had gotten to know the friends by the end of the book, that they were my friends too. Clayton has a knack for making her characters completely believable and tangible, with all the quirks and imperfections that would make them real people. They have real faults, real problems, aren't perfect, and in this imperfection, she has created honest and true characters.Do yourself a favor and pick up The Four Ms. Bradwells. It's a refreshing read for early summer and while it does deal with some heavy subjects, it does so in a manner that is easy to read and relatable to the characters. And while you're at it, if you haven't read The Wednesday Sisters, pick that up at the same time. Both books are excellent stories on the power of friendship and what that power can help friends overcome.Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      In one life-altering law school class, four women of different backgrounds and beliefs were christened Bradwells, and afterwards became friends for years. Though life has taken each of them down different paths, of success and of failure, Mia, Betts, Laney, and Ginger have remained loyal to one another and to their friendship since that day. Now, with Betts about to be appointed to the Supreme Court, investigators have dug up the memories of one summer where a man committed suicide. All four women flee from the truth and end up on the island where it happened, where Ginger’s family lived in the summers, to try and face the facts of their past and work out how to grow from here as women and as friends.The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton was released to favorable reviews nearly everywhere, so even though I hadn’t managed to read that one yet, I still jumped to get my hands on The Four Ms. Bradwells. I wasn’t quite sure what I expected from it when I started, but what I got was a tale about four strong women who have to face demons from their past – demons that many women face in their own private lives without the spotlight placed on these four. As such, it was a compelling and meaningful read with a lot of relevance for women’s lives.The story is told mainly through flashbacks. All of the friends are together on the island trying to face what they’ve kept from the world for so long. As they experience the familiar scenery, they are reminded of the past and forced to reflect upon their lives. I liked how the novel touched deeply on the nature of female friendships, relationships, and family, how the women can love one another yet cause each other to suffer. We’re only given the past through these flashbacks, so at the beginning I had no idea what had happened. The actual events weren’t earth-shattering but were certainly moving and I felt for these characters and the pain they’d endured over the years.There were things I didn’t like about the book as well, unfortunately. For one thing, I found it really hard to distinguish the women’s separate voices. I never take note of chapter headings and I more than once experienced the phenomenon of confusion as it turned out the perspective had switched and I hadn’t noticed. Ginger’s poetry and Laney’s Latin helped with this some but also got old as the novel wore on. I’d find someone who quoted Latin phrases or any poetry endlessly to be annoying in real life, too, so no surprise that happened here. And, finally, I understood that the said event was a terrible event for these women and their families, but I didn’t really see it as ‘dirt’ that would interest anyone about Betts’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Is it really that bad if you’re simply at a weekend party where a suicide happens? I know I wouldn’t have thought anything of it.Overall, though, I did enjoy The Four Ms. Bradwells and it’s certainly a worthy read for other women. I also still intend to read The Wednesday Sisters as I have for at least a year now – soon I hope!
    • 3/5
      Okay book, got better in the last half. Too much reference to Ann Arbor, that wasn't necessary. 4 female attorneys who were at UM Law School in early 80s and a secret they shared for 30 years.
    • 5/5
      Ms Clayton has produced another winning novel about mature girlfriends.The four main characters take turns narrating the chapters, providing insights into each woman and allowing the doubts, fears and hopes they have about their friends shine through.Like The Wednesday Sisters, Ms Clayton has her readers thinking throughout the story. What will happen? Could this character really do such a thing? Why would this character think that about her friend? Deep and mesmerizing thoughts shared with the reader that force the reader to wonder what they would do in such a situation.Thoroughly engrossing read from first page to last.
    • 3/5
      CoverSimple and elegant like the aura the Ms. Bradwells expel, but it's contradictory to how their lives have been.PlotRealistic, humorous, sad, whimsical, thoughtful and sometimes shocking ... this story has it all.Main CharactersGinger - Sometimes callous, but with a huge heart for others. Ginger was traumatized at 13 years of age, although she doesn't see it that way until much later. This event has shaped the way she looks at life and relationships and even herself.Laney - Ginger's closest friend. Laney, too, was also a victim of a traumatic event ... by the same person that traumatized Ginger. Laney is a thinker and likes to consider all of her options repeatedly. She's also fluent in Latin ... which can be quite annoying.Betts - Betts might be known as the Funny One, but I got the sense that she was the peace keeper as well. Even though I know she came from a single-parent home, I still don't have the feeling that I know her as well as the other three Ms. Bradwells. As a matter of fact, I had to sit here and recall who she was in order to type up this description about her. She just wasn't that memorable to me.Mia - A world-traveled journalist who hops from man to man. She's known as the Savant, but she's down-to-earth and likeable as well. Mia is the friend that many women would not only like to have, but to be as well.OverallThis is a wonderful suspense novel based on four women who are stronger than they know. It definitely kept me guessing until the very end. I would recommend this novel to all the women out there who enjoy a suspense novel involving strong determined women.
    • 3/5
      The Short of It: A pending Supreme Court appointment and a secret which could ruin it all. How much are friends willing to sacrifice in order to keep things under wraps? The Rest of It: Lainey, Mia, Betts and Ginger have been friends since their days at the University of Michigan. While studying law, their teacher aptly nicknames them “the Ms. Bradwells” after discussing a case where a woman was not allowed to be appointed to the Court. Several years later, many of them have families of their own yet they still remain the best of friends. Betts is about to be appointed to the Supreme Court and as she completes the interview portion of the appointment, a secret from the past threatens to surface. The four women decide to spend the weekend at Ginger’s family home on Chesapeake Bay to discuss their options and to avoid the media. There are many things that I enjoyed about this book. The story centers around four, very strong women. I found this refreshing. Usually when reading a book like this, I get frustrated with the women because they are too timid or weak. I never felt this way while reading this one. I also enjoyed the setting quite a bit. A beach house on Chesapeake Bay is pretty perfect no matter how you cut it and Ms. Clayton does a wonderful job describing the house and its immediate surroundings. I also enjoyed the closeness of these women. Sometimes the interactions between women can seem forced, but I did not get that here. There was the closeness I mentioned, but also a realistic tension to the characters that made them seem real. However, I did have some issues with the book. This is where the setting sort of worked against the story. Once they got to the house, the only things really discussed were things that happened on the Bay. Through flashbacks we’re given the rest of the story but as a reader, in order for me to really understand how these women think, I needed to know more about their lives prior to becoming “The Bradwells” and unfortunately, there wasn’t much said about their lives prior to college. As for the secret, it was sort of anti-climactic and a bit predictable. Since I don’t classify this as a mystery, I didn’t expect there to be a big reveal or anything, but it seemed rather abrupt in the telling. Overall, the book read like a play to me. It was pretty much confined to the one setting and although I loved the setting, I think it stole the show a bit. Book Chatter
    • 3/5
      I really wanted to like this book. I read The Wednesday Sisters and loved it. I was simply unable to get into these characters and I could not "hear" their separate voices. I kept going back to see who was suppose to be speaking and then I would have to try to remember what their history and relationship to other was. I finally gave up after 120 pages. I may pick it up later and see if it was just timing. But I am resolved this year to stick to Nancy Pearl's reading rule and not feel like I have to finish a book whether I am enjoying it or not.
    • 4/5
      This is a good book. But it could have been a great book if Clayton had been both less heavy-handed in her feminist discussions and less coy in her descriptions of her characters.This book is not chick-lit by any means; it's themes are far too serious. But it's true, I suspect, that most of it's readers will be women. And most of those women will not need the kind of tutorial on feminism in the early 1980s that Clayton seems determined to provide. Not that we should forget the sacrifices made and hardships endured by our mothers and grandmothers, but a lighter touch might have better served the narrative here.In contrast to her need to spell her feminism out in great detail, Clayton seems reluctant to give details about the relationships between and among her characters (and their mothers). It's certainly a valid literary technique to leave certain details to the reader's imagination, but it can be frustrating when the emotional crux of the story hinges on relationships that the author hasn't allowed one to get a clear sense of.
    • 3/5
      The Four Ms. Bradwells is about four friends who attend law school together. Together they survive school, marriages, children, divorces, and death. Good and bad things happen. Some of it brings them together and some tears them apart. There is also a death woven into the story which adds some mystery to the story.I loved The Wednesday Sisters and was looking forward to the next book by Meg Waite Clayton. The story jumps back and forth between the present time and the time they were at law school...very confusing. I also could never quite figure out who was who...also confusing! I never felt like I knew the chaacters. I never really liked any of them. I just didn't connect with this book.
    • 3/5
      The strong themes of “The Four Ms. Bradwells” for me were the re-examining of past choices and their consequences and the mother/daughter relationship seen in a new light as the daughter becomes a mother as well.These four women, Mia, Laney, Betts and Ginger, have a decades long friendship – filled with wonderful memories…as well as a few terrible ones that haunt them to this day. Choices were made whose consequences are truly only now coming to light.The book plays out over a long weekend – but constantly jumps back to the past. For much of the beginning of the book, this made it difficult for me to follow – it seems like the story went back in time practically mid-sentence and I kept getting lost. Because the same people are involved and the incidents happen mostly in the same place, I was confused as to what events happened when.This review is difficult for me to write because I very much enjoyed “The Wednesday Sisters” and have Meg Waite Clayton on my list of writers to follow – but I just couldn’t fully enjoy this book. Beyond the time confusion, I kept having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter I was on to see which of the women’s perspective we were in. The voices just weren’t different enough for me to keep track.And yet – there were such lovely scenes and such beautiful turns of phrase. “Lonely. I feel it worse here at Mother’s empty house, even with Laney’s arm warm against mine, with Max beside me and Mia on the other side of him. Was Mother ever lonely like this? Behind the frantic activism she lived and breathed for all the world to see, did she ever feel anyone knew her? Did she ever wonder if the person she’d grown up to be was the person she meant to become?”And, “I’m not sure which surprises me more: Laney lashing out at Ginger, or the fact that our friendship has survived so many years of this boiling under the surface, all this second guessing about the choices we never did really agree upon.”I think there are a few very strong stories in the book. They just didn’t come across as clearly or as powerfully as I expected.
    • 4/5
      This is a story of a friendship that began in law school as 4 young lonely girls navigate the largely male (at the time and even in some ways now) world of politics and law. Inspired by Ginger's mom, Faith, they try to navigate through the world understanding the double standard and strive to reach goals like partner in a law firm, congresswoman and Supreme Court Justice. Only one thing my stop them... an event that occurred when they were on spring break their last year in law school. The book is told in the alternating voices of Ginger, Mia, Laney, and Betts. Each one has their own struggles with the work world, love, and family. I will warn you that Ginger's poetry and Laney's latin quotes may become irksome. By the end of the book, I started to get a bit annoyed with the poetry and latin quotes that were somewhat cute at the beginning of the story
    • 4/5
      It took some time to emerge myself in this story, but once it got going, I got hooked. The four friends theme is not necessarily anything new, but combined with somewhat of a murder mystery, it presents a new twist. Basically, I really liked this story, but I think if the writing had been tweaked some more, I could have loved it. I normally don't have a problem with chapters written from alternating character viewpoints. But in this case, it did get a little confusing at times, trying to keep track of whose viewpoint I was reading from. However, the blending of present day & past flashback really did work in this story, and it made the plot gradually come alive, engaging the reader so that he/she really wants to keep reading to find out what actually did happen on that fateful day that Trey Humphrey was found dead from a fatal gunshot wound.I'm finding that I really enjoy Meg Waite Clayton's plotlines. In this case, I think the writing needed a little refinement to make some things less confusing to the reader, but overall quite an enjoyable book.
    • 4/5
      As new law students, Mia, Betts, Ginger and Laney dub themselves "The Ms. Bradwells" after each steps forward in class to debate the Supreme Court's ruling on Bradwell vs. Illinois, a landmark case that contested a woman's right to practice law. Since that time, the Ms. Bradwell's held an unbreakable bond which continued to the present time, 30 years later, as Betts is nominated for the Supreme Court. Just as Betts is about to be confirmed, a potential scandal is released via an anonymous blog that Betts may have been involved in the mysterious death of a lawyer that had taken place with the other Ms. Bradwells in tow, 30 years earlier on Cook Island. The women seek refuge in Ginger's family home on the island to process this as the press barages them and camps outside waiting for information. The story is told from the perspectives of each of the Ms. Bradwells, making this a challenging story to read and understand, as the details of each character's lives are deeply entwined. Although I love Meg Waite Clayton's stories, this one was a lot of work to read. I found myself continually confused about who was speaking, whose daugher belonged to whom, who dated which men, and random other details. The first third of the book was particularly challenging in this regard. Although I loved the premise of the book, which was empowering toward women and motivating to me personally, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been written from one perspective rather than four, if for no other reason than to make the story more stable, clear, and easier to follow.
    • 4/5
      I had some trouble getting into this story. The plot line is very interesting and I thought that I would get swept up in it as I had with Clayton's previous novel, The Wednesday Sisters. It was quite a ways into The Four Ms. Bradwells before I was really hooked into the story. Two problems that I had were keeping the four characters straight in my mind as the voices switched with each chapter. Also, I felt that Laney's Latin and Ginger's poetry just muddled things up rather than adding quirky flavor or telling me much about the characters. I think a lighter hand with the latter would have made the book a little more accessible. With that said though, once I got into the story, I did enjoy it. As I said at the beginning the plot is great -- with twists and turns and secrets and important issues. I think that the characters will appeal to some readers more than others.
    • 3/5
      I found the premise of this novel to be interesting. I usually enjoy books about women looking back on their past, interconnected lives. However, I didn't really relate to any one of these women individually and began to find their 30 year old mystery somewhat tiresome. That being said, I did like the story of how they became the Four Ms. Bradwells, I thought that was a very interesting bit of law lore. This may be better read in a book group situation where there are more people to connect with each main character.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of four women who met in law school in 1979. During the senate confirmation hearings for one of the women who was nominated for the Supreme Court, secrets buried thirty years before start to be revealed. The four women hide out in an island home as they try to sort through their feeling. This is about friendship, family, mother-daughter relationships, feminism.I found The Wednesday Sisters fun to read, so I was very excited to receive The Four Ms. Bradwells. I did not enjoy this book as much. I found the four different voices confusing to read, even though I usually enjoy novels written in different points of view. By Part II, however, I was able to get into the story.
    • 3/5
      I was picked to receive this book for Early Reviewers by LT and I was excited. I loved "The Wednesday Sisters" and how the author wrote the storyline. I am sorry to say I can't say the same with this book and I really wanted to. I hate putting out here in writing that I truly struggled to make it through this book. The style that the author chose to write the story in confused me greatly. Each chapter was written from the viewpoint of one of the 4 women the book was written about. The chapters were also an intermingling of past and present, which caused me to constantly have to look back through previous chapters, when I became confused with the storyline.The Four Ms. Bradwells follows the lives of 4 women who met in Law school through to the present. Ginger, Laney, Betts and Mia were all dubbed "the Four Ms. Bradwells" on their first day of Constitutional Law class in 1979. Their nicknames stemmed from a Case where Mrs. Myra Bradwell appealed to the Supreme Court about her case "Bradwell vs. Illinois" about her right to practice law being denied. The nicknames grew from the fact that they were women looking to make their mark in the world of law.Now, as the four women wait to see the outcome of Betts Senate confirmation hearings to take a seat on the Supreme Court, old wounds and skeletons emerge from their closets. Secrets they hadn't spoken of at all, in years or had planned to take with them to their graves.While I wanted to delve into the depths of this intriguing storyline I was unable to find a common ground or true likability to these characters. But, as I stated at the beginning I was very confused with the past/present/character/chapter switch that the author used. It will by no means stop me from reading other books by this author, as I feel she is deeply talented.