Join us at the Waterford Stillhouse on Tuesday, April 23 for our next event in our very popular Cocktails and Conversation series! We are so excited to be welcoming author Rowan Beaird! During our Cocktails & Conversation events, guest authors share about their books, answer questions and sign their books for attendees.

About the Book:

A "delicious" (Rebecca Makkai) and "deeply compelling" (Lauren Groff) debut novel set at a 1950s Reno "divorce ranch," about the complex friendship between two women who dare to imagine a different future Lois Saunders thought that marrying the right man would finally cure her loneliness. But as picture-perfect as her husband is, she is suffocating in their loveless marriage. In 1951, though, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce—except in Reno, Nevada. At the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable of Reno’s famous “divorce ranches,” Lois finds herself living with half a dozen other would-be divorcees, all in Reno for the six weeks’ residency that is the state’s only divorce requirement. They spend their days riding horses and their nights flirting with cowboys, and it’s as wild and fun as Lake Forest, Illinois, is prim and stifling. But it isn’t until Greer Lang arrives that Lois’s world truly cracks open. Gorgeous, beguiling, and completely indifferent to societal convention, Greer is unlike anyone Lois has ever met—and she sees something in Lois that no one else ever has. Under her influence, Lois begins to push against the limits that have always restrained her. How far will she go to forge her independence, on her own terms? Set in the glamorous, dizzying world of 1950s Reno, where housewives and movie stars rubbed shoulders at gin-soaked casinos, The Divorcees is a riveting page-turner and a dazzling exploration of female friendship, desire, and freedom.


“This is the novel I've always wanted to read about divorce in midcentury America: the glamour and underbelly of Reno's divorce ranches, the support of female friendship, and the impossibility (and glorious possibilities) of starting over as a single woman. The Divorcées is a delicious literary page-turner from a fierce new voice.” —Rebecca Makkai, New York Times bestselling author of I Have Some Questions for You and The Great Believers


“The Divorcées is gorgeously crafted, perfectly balanced, and full of complex, moving and vividly wrought characters. The sunshot pool at the Golden Yarrow, the searing desert heat, the dark glamor of the casinos will stay with me for a long time. Rowan Beaird writes with such ease and confidence that it's hard to believe this novel is her first. An excellent, deeply compelling read.” —Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies


Tickets are $35 each and INCLUDE A HARDCOVER COPY of The Divorcees. This book publishes on March 19 and books will be ready to pick up near that date. If you have a ticket, you will be notified that your book is ready to pick up. LIMITED TO 30 TICKETS. MUST PRE-PAY TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT. We ask that you thank our hosts by ordering a beverage during the event.