Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Release date: 1 April 2025
Back cover blurb: New York City, 1950. Dreams come true for radio personality Maggie Lane when she gets her big break in the exciting new world of television. The Maggie Lane Baking Show is on the air. All she has to do is act like the ideal housewife, create sumptuous desserts, charm the show’s sponsors, and sign a morality clause to ensure that her girl-next-door image remains untarnished. Although newlywed Maggie has never baked so much as a cookie, and knows even less about maintaining a home, keeping up appearances is a necessary ingredient for success. Easy. She has a supportive husband and a legion of fans who can’t wait to know her better and better, week after week. That’s what she’s afraid of. Off camera, cracks are showing in her marriage, an old lover makes an unexpected return, and there are secrets from the past that could ruin everything Maggie has worked for. With every dream on the line, Maggie wonders if she can still have it all when the truth about what it really means to be an American housewife comes to light.
American Housewife is a lovely book about the struggles of relationships, and the responsibility of 'having it all'.
Maggie Lane lost her first love, Jake, during WW2 and feared that she might never love again. Until she meets Teddy and realises that it is possible to find happiness again.
Maggie and Teddy both work in radio.
Maggie has her own slot, sponsored by the Deluxe Baking Co and Teddy is more behind the scenes as a producer. He had his fair share of the spotlight during the War as a journalist and correspondent, and no longer craves the attention partly due to some of the atrocities he witnessed on the front.
When Maggie is approached by her Radio show sponsors and offered her own Television show she is dumbfounded. But when she meets with the sponsor and they assume she is married, she doesn't correct them. She can't bake, isn't cut out for television and isn't a married woman.
Why could they possibly want her to be on TV?
When she and Teddy talk about it though, he is encouraging, and they decide to marry anyway, no matter her decision.
She and Teddy get married quickly. He has been asking her for months, and something has always held her back, though she could never pinpoint exactly what. Things begin to move quickly for Maggie once she agrees to host the show, and she is catapulted to fame almost overnight, whilst Teddy can only watch from the side-lines.
Can their new marriage survive Maggie's newly acquired fame, and will Teddy be content to be known as 'Maggie Lane's husband'? Well, of course you will have to read the novel yourself to find out, and I highly recommend that you do!
American Housewife is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.
Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.