***** - The Tradwife's Secret

THE TRADWIFE'S SECRET

LIANE CHILD

*****

A marriage is between two people. And their millions of followers.

Madison March is the perfect wife, with the perfect family and the perfect life.

She spends her days baking sourdough and picking vegetables from the garden while watching her children play in the fields surrounding her Montana homestead.

Dinner is always on the table for her husband and they end their days sitting on the porch, watching the sun go down.

It’s a life anyone would dream of.

And it’s all a lie.

MY REVIEW

*****

As someone who lives a lot of my life online and have seen many of these trends firsthand, I was excited to read The Tradwife’s Secret.

Madison March is a Tradwife influencer - her every moment in the homestead kitchen with her children gloriously captured on social media for women of all walks of life to aspire and long for. However, when Cally starts her job as the March’s family tutor, she starts to realise that not everything you see online can be trusted…

This thriller is based on such a topical subject - particularly in line with the shift in American ideals and politics that we have been witnessing from across the globe. We see the Tradwife trend all over Instagram and Tiktok, and influencers hold a great sway in our buying habits as well as our political ideals. I did like that although the book has a lot to say about the darker side of this industry, it does so in a way which always felt in keeping with the narrative – it never felt too much like the reader was being preached to. It simply shined a spotlight on what was happening behind closed doors and allowed us to create our own conclusions. I’m hoping that this might get across how dangerous this lifestyle can be to those who aspire to it, without alienating them straight away.

The book is split into three perspectives – Tradwife influencer Madison, tutor Cally who is seeing into Madison’s world for the first time and aspiring tradwife Brianna, lured in by everything she’s been sold on social media and giving up her life to start her own homestead with her husband. These women show the darker side of these beliefs – the women all aspire to the ideals of fame, money and family but the more they are drawn in, the more they are taken advantage of by men wanting abuse and control. Some of the scenes are a difficult read and it can be triggering in places, but I think this is necessary to show just how curated and fake these lifestyles can be and how women can easily find themselves trapped.

There is a great narrative technique used in this book - I won’t say more to avoid spoilers. Sadly, I had guessed what was happening quite early on, but it was still fun to be on the ride of finding out the specific details. The very end had an annoyingly convenient element that was never fully explained, which took away the realism a little – if it had been added into the motivations of one of the characters rather than being a random accident, I think it would have been stronger for it.

Overall, The Tradwife’s Secret is a twisty thriller which has a strong message behind it. It is perfectly placed for the society we are in - which puts fame and influence above all else, no matter the cost. Thank you to NetGalley & HQ Stories for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon UK Waterstones