The publishing industry is experiencing a surge in books centered around the "tradwife" lifestyle, with multiple titles exploring traditional domesticity filling bookstore shelves and appearing on bestseller lists. This trend reflects a broader cultural moment where women adopting traditional roles are gaining visibility, particularly on social media.
Caro Claire Burke's novel "Yesteryear," which features a modern tradwife transported to 1855, has been a significant success. The book has remained on The New York Times bestseller list for 15 weeks and has sold over 461,000 copies, according to Circana Bookscan. A film adaptation is in development with Amazon MGM Studios.
"Yesteryear" arrives amid a wave of other tradwife-focused books, with at least five recent or upcoming titles bearing the name "Tradwife" or "Trad Wife." Sarah Langan, whose novel "Trad Wife: A Novel" is set to be released on September 29, noted the sheer volume of these publications. "It is honestly a nightmare," Langan commented, adding that while aware of the trend's potential, she did not anticipate its widespread adoption in literature.
Loan Le, Langan's editor at Atria/Simon & Schuster, acknowledged the trend's scale, stating, "I just didn’t expect this amount. Everywhere I see now is about tradwives, I didn’t expect it to blow up." Le was drawn to Langan's unique perspective on the subject matter, describing the approach as "a true conversation versus an attack or a criticism."
Langan's book itself is a gothic thriller about a journalist investigating a seemingly idyllic influencer who lives a traditional lifestyle, only to uncover unsettling truths. The author drew inspiration from a widely discussed interview with Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, but aimed to avoid focusing on any single individual.
Authors and editors suggest that the appeal of tradwives as a literary subject stems from their current prominence in the cultural consciousness. Hallie Shepherd, whose debut novel "Call Off the Dark" also explores tradwife themes, stated, "Trad lifestyles are really in the collective consciousness right now. As authors, we get ideas from all the things we see around us, so it makes sense that multiple novels about trad wives would come out around the same time."
Saratoga Schaefer, author of "Trad Wife," which was released in February, views the trend as a contemporary iteration of a long-standing literary trope. "There have always been domestic suspense books about unhinged housewives," Schaefer said.
Jo Piazza, whose murder mystery "Everyone Is Lying to You" was an early entry into the subgenre, believes the trend taps into "women's rage." She suggested that some readers connect with these characters on an emotional level, experiencing a range from "love to hate."
The phenomenon is not confined to fiction. Amy Irvine's forthcoming memoir, "Almost Animal: A Memoir of Motherhood, Wildness and the American West," is marketed as an "anti-tradwife manifesto." Irvine, however, clarifies that she is not anti-tradwife but rather offers a perspective rooted in her family's history of challenging lives in Utah. She expressed a desire for more empathy towards the protagonists in tradwife narratives, noting that "she's just treated like one of Freud's female patients who's labeled crazy."
While the trend has captured the literary market, some anticipate a saturation point. Le suggested that eventually, "People will eventually see that there are bigger issues out there in the world."