01
If you want more of Stockett's Mississippi
The Help
Kathryn Stockett
Why Matchbook recommends it: Black maids and a young white writer risk everything to tell the truth about 1960s Jackson — the book that established the voice you loved here.
What to read next
Books Like The Calamity Club
The Calamity Club returns Kathryn Stockett to Depression-era Mississippi, following an unlikely group of women and girls in Alcorn whose friendship becomes a lifeline against poverty, scandal and the rigid social order of the South. Readers searching for books like The Calamity Club want Southern historical fiction with big-hearted female friendships, a strong sense of place and stories where ordinary women quietly defy the rules of their time.
Our picks
02
If you loved Southern women sticking together
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fannie Flagg
Why Matchbook recommends it: A Depression-era Alabama café and the fierce friendship at its centre, told with humour, warmth and plenty of rule-breaking.
03
If you loved a girl finding a family of women
The Secret Life of Bees
Sue Monk Kidd
Why Matchbook recommends it: A runaway girl in 1960s South Carolina finds refuge with three beekeeping sisters — a coming-of-age story full of female strength.
04
If you loved the Depression-era hardship
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah
Why Matchbook recommends it: A mother fights to keep her family alive through the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Same era, same resilience under impossible economic pressure.
05
If you loved an outsider in a judgmental Southern town
Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens
Why Matchbook recommends it: An isolated girl raised in the North Carolina marsh faces a town that has already decided who she is.
06
If you loved 1930s women doing quietly brave work
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
Kim Michele Richardson
Why Matchbook recommends it: A packhorse librarian carries books through Depression-era Kentucky while facing prejudice for who she is.
07
If you loved the warmth and humour
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Beth Hoffman
Why Matchbook recommends it: A young girl is taken in by a household of eccentric Savannah women — charming, funny and deeply Southern.
What did you love about The Calamity Club?
The romance? The characters? The setting? The twists? Tell Matchbook what worked for you — and what didn't — and we'll find your next read.