"Meet the Newmans peels back the smile of America’s favourite TV housewife to reveal a timely, feminist story about love, power and finally daring to rewrite the script."
Dinah Newman stands in her pristine Toluca Lake kitchen, burning dinner for her husband Del despite shelves lined with cookbooks. The irony is delicious: the most famous cook in America, spokesperson for Hotpoint appliances and Pyrex cookware, can’t feed her own family.
For twenty years, 20 million Americans have gathered at 8:30pm to join the Newmans - first on CBS Radio, then on television. America’s favourite couple. The perfect family. But after 23 years of marriage, they’re sleeping in separate beds. Money troubles simmer. Their sons - steady Guy, 22, and craftier Shep, 17 - circle the fractures.
The lifestyle Dinah performs on screen belongs to another era. Ratings are in freefall. They're about to be canned. Cancelled. Their sponsors are jumping ship.
In 1964, women still can’t open their own bank accounts, serve on juries in many states, access legal abortion, or take action against sexual harassment. They are trusted to raise children but not to control money or their own bodies. And yet Dinah’s show perpetuates the fantasy of cheerful domestic submission.
Enter Juliet Dunne, a young reporter at the Los Angeles Times, navigating a newsroom where “no skirt has ever written for the news and no skirt ever will.” She loves journalism, despite the whispers and antiquated attitudes. She blames women like Dinah for not kicking the door open wider for the rest.
Then Del is in a car accident. Del who writes and directs the show. Who crafts every episode. Who controls every aspect of their lives. On and off screen. And Dinah steps forward. Steps up. Does the unthinkable. Takes control. She hires Juliet to help her write a revolutionary final episode.
This is a sharp, moving exploration of love, expectation and feminism. At opposite ends of womanhood in 1964 America, Dinah and Juliet must decide whether they can rewrite not just a television show, but the story they’ve been handed. It's Lessons in Chemistry, with a sprinkle of Mad Men: and I loved it.
You've seen the show. Now meet the woman behind the scenes . . .
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
You've seen the show. Now meet the woman behind the scenes . . .
Meet the Newmans features in the following genres: Audiobooks of the Month, Family Drama, Historical Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Paperback, Hardback, Audiobook. £17.09, down from the £18.99 cover price. In Stock.
Meet the Newmans was written by Jennifer Niven and published by Macmillan an imprint of Pan Macmillan
Meet the Newmans has 389 pages
£17.09, reduced from £18.99. In Stock.
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