Belle Haven Finishing School

Synopsis

Belle Haven Finishing School is an intergenerational tale about a Southern finishing school set in 1951 and 1987, inspired by the true story of a decades-old cover-up that binds two women together, thirty years apart.

“There are times when the greater good must take precedence,” he said. “When the sacrifices of the few lead to scientific breakthroughs that improve the lives of thousands, tens of thousands.” “But at what cost?” she asked.

In 1951, Belle Haven Finishing School offers orphan girls the promise of a brighter future. For Birdie and her cousin Rue, it’s a chance to become proper ladies, to dream beyond their small world, and change the trajectory of their lives. But as Birdie navigates the school’s unusual rules and glamorous, yet unsettling, atmosphere, she begins to question the true intentions behind its polished facade—and what it might mean for her and Rue.

In 1987, Charlotte Davenport, a burgeoning New York Times reporter who is hungry to cover stories beyond the ladies’ lifestyle pages, discovers a curious connection between the finishing school and an academic study that was never published. Charlotte is convinced a cover-up took place to protect the prominent university professor behind the unethical experiment. As Charlotte pieces together the past, she finds herself drawn into a mystery that touches her own life in unexpected ways.

Dramatic, deeply human, emotionally satisfying, and written with vivid historical details, Belle Haven Finishing School is a heartfelt tale of ambition, the power of female connection, and the courage to seek the truth.

“Myers brilliantly seduces us with her setting—a North Carolina town of beautiful socialites, opulent dresses, and elegant soirees—before revealing a terrible secret that threatens the entire community. This is a story of courage, of women willing to take a stand in the face of corporate greed, and most definitely a tale for our times.”

—Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
“With an atmosphere so thick you could blow it out in smoke rings, Adele Myers vividly conjures post war North Carolina, where ladies wear matching hats and gloves and no one questions the supremacy of the all-powerful tobacco leaf—except one young woman, trying to find her place in the world, torn between conflicting loyalties. A thoroughly immersive and engaging read!”

—Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author of Band of Sisters
“Adele Myers brings mid-century North Carolina vividly to life in her impressive, beautifully detailed debut novel, The Tobacco Wives, a suspenseful coming-of-age story of a brave young woman’s search for dangerous truths obscured by corporate deceit and betrayal.”

—Jennifer Chiaverini, New York Times bestselling author of The Women’s March
“The Tobacco Wives is a sweep-you-away story with a lush North Carolina setting and a courageous woman at its center. What more do we want from a story than this? Myers’s prose is stitched together as beautifully as the fancy dresses her protagonist Maddie Sykes sews for the elite women of this tobacco town. The question at the heart of this novel trembles with power—what happens when what we know is right conflicts with what we are being told is true? Myers’s story will resonate long after you turn the last page; powerful and authentic, The Tobacco Wives is unforgettable."

—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Surviving Savannah