A story set in the 1950s is about a group of recently divorced women sent to a "ranch" while waiting for divorces to be finalized. The way Beaird highlights the implications of divorce-induced shame was thought-provoking to reflect on and the author did a good job of emphasizing how privileges of sex and socioeconomic status influenced the experience of divorce. But the storyline itself was very prolonged and set amongst a cast of generally unlikeable characters. I kept waiting for an "aha" moment that would help in understanding the main character, but it never came. Generally, I really wanted to like this more than I did; the concept felt promising but the execution did not land well for me.