A delightful first-person description of the lives of mid-century USAF wives and their children while posted in post-war England and their return to the US. The frustration of 'following' and being perfect officer's wives and mothers plays out differently for every family, including the culture shock of transition to civilian lives or the end of a marriage or death. ( )

Laurie Graham writes a great book! Set during the 1950's a story of 4 women, their friendship, their lives, their laughs and their struggles. At times this story had me laughing out loud, at other's I couldn't put it down because all I wanted was find out what happened. These women came right out off the page for me. If you like a story about everyday life in it's full blown glory, read this book. ( )

Well drawn characters and lots of fun to read. Set in 1950s UK & US, moving on to the present day. ( )

What did it mean to be a homemaker in the fifties? What does it mean now? A quick read. Felt very true to this reader who spent a little time in the fifties herself. Recommended. ( )

There seems to be a continued misconception among the authors of the world that if you write a novel with a) several women as its main cast, who are b) friends for several years/decades, and c) share recipes that are d) included in the text, a bestseller is assured. Unfortunately, we are then left with such horrors as The Hindi Bindi Club and, worse, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. I'm beginning to think that Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café is the only successful example of the genre, and yet I keep on trying...

Anyway. The Future Homemakers of America is, according to the blurb and the soft-focus pastel cover, meant to be a novel in just this vein. And initially, I was ready to chalk it up as a bad example of the same - six women in this instance, USAF wives in rural England in 1952, who support each other through thick and thin, blergh. And... suddenly, it's not like that at all. Suddenly, the real world intrudes. The narrator, Peggy, acquires a lifelong friendship with an English woman named Kath, but also a life as a single mother and an estranged family; the other characters suffer bereavements and have torrid affairs and become radio evangelists and taxidermists. The characters grow up, make mistakes, most of them discard their airman husbands as the novel progresses, and it's quite clear that a lot of the time they don't even like each other that much, but somehow or other, keep in touch. The prose is chaotic and comedic, as real life is, and full of loose ends and irresolution and small happinesses, as real life is. I had some reservations about the very end of the novel - it seems to me that a few bits and bobs could have been tied up for the principle of the thing - but they're minor quibbles. It's a lovely, occasionally very funny book, and absolutely worth reading. It even includes a recipe for fried squirrel. ( )