‘The Trad Wife’ by Carrie Hughes

Published by Hera,
7 May 2026. 
ISBN: 978-1-83598354-6 (PB)

Melissa Fairbrock was born in England but now lives in a small New York City apartment where she is bringing up her young daughter, Willow.  The thirty-year old professional works as a content creator and is good at her job but is beginning to find juggling parental and work responsibilities exhausting.  She would like bigger accommodation for her growing child and has recently begun to feel under pressure from her younger, competitive colleagues.  These tensions are further compounded by Melissa’s obsession with the online videos posted by self-confessed TradWife Faith Everson. 

Faith’s slick posts from The Lavender Ranch ooze with joy and celebrate the family life she shares with handsome husband Marty and their six children.  Her videos stand in stark contrast to Melissa’s far less polished, but painfully honest, podcasts, Mom’s Real Tea, which focus on the challenges of life as a single parent holding down a pressurised job.  The Lavender Ranch is part of a Mormon community in Utah and, whilst Melissa is disdainful of the TradWife subculture, she admires the quality of Faith’s online output.  She would love to have a similarly successful online presence and, gradually, finds herself yearning for the simplicity and peace the influencer promises.  

Prompted by more difficulties at work, Melissa decides to see whether Lavender Ranch is for real; she contacts Faith and asks whether she will be willing to be a subject in one of her podcasts.  When Faith agrees, mother and daughter set off for a visit including overnight accommodation within the community.  Melissa’s decision has profound consequences for both her and Willow, and it’s one she will quickly regret. 

Melissa’s internal monologue explores the difficulties she experiences as a young woman in a world of ever-changing norms and expectations.  It’s easy to empathise with her desire to step off the relentlessly accelerating treadmill that seems to characterise our second millennium, and easy to see how turning back time might not be a bad thing.  But, as L.P. Hartley reminds us, “The past is a foreign country…” a truism that becomes apparent when a second, malevolent, voice begins punctuates Melissa’s narrative.  The author uses this technique sparingly, which adds to the tension it creates. 

This is a thoroughly modern novel and explores the dangers inherent in social media.  The writer perfectly captures the language and mindset of cyberspace which, as we now know, can be both deceptive and dangerous as well as addictive.  Melissa’s desire to explore a lifestyle of which she is deeply suspicious is understandable, the decision to take her daughter along is indefensible. 

Crisply written, carefully plotted and terrifyingly relevant – a great read and recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Carrie Hughes lives in West Sussex, where she is a copywriter and guest lecturer in creative writing. She can often be found dreaming up stories, communing with dogs and visiting the dark side. She is the author of The Trad Wife and The Woman from Bookclub.

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.