The Tradwife’s Secret is a twisty thriller perfect for adding to your summer reading list
Love it or hate it, tradwife content is a big deal on TikTok right now, with influencers like Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman just some of those gathering large followings by sharing their tradwife lifestyles.
Think videos of beautifully-dressed women making homemade cereal or toothpaste for their families in their enviable kitchens, surrounded by angelic children.
The tradwife trend emerged on social media all the way back in 2018, gaining momentum during the pandemic as people isolating at home looked to find excitement and comfort in day-to-day household tasks. Celebrating the ‘traditional’ parts of homemaking, it has proved to be controversial, sparking fierce debates.
Fast-forward to today, and the tradwife trend has reached the fictional world too, with several forthcoming novels, including Sarah Langan’s Trad Wife and Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear, exploring the darker side of the social media sensation.
Leading the pack is The Tradwife’s Secret by Liane Child, a twisted domestic thriller.
In it, we meet Madison March, the perfect wife with the perfect family and life who spends her days at her Montana homestead, sharing her lifestyle online with her millions of followers.
Whether she’s cooking sourdough from scratch or teaching her children about proper gender roles, her fans can’t get enough. But when new tutor Callie turns up to help educate the March children, she soon notices the cracks in Madison’s image.
The book is written from several points of view, with Madison, Callie and aspiring tradwife Brianna all providing very different perspectives throughout.
If you’ve ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes of a tradwife account, this book is for you. It’s addictive, with lots of drama, some memorable side characters and a huge twist I for one did not see coming.
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The Tradwife’s Secret by Liane Child is available to purchase now from Waterstones.