Virtuous Women - by Ann Goltz (Paperback)

About the Book

Virtuous Women is about a young woman's fight to escape the isolated religious community and patriarchal ideals she's always known.

Book Synopsis

Isolated from the world except for their insular church community, Hope Wagner has little exposure to anything outside of her father's beliefs. That changes when he marries the worldly newcomer to their church.

Jennifer Levine always wanted a large, close-knit family that lives according to the traditional values portrayed in her beloved historical novels. But after her marriage to Michael, a handsome widower at her new church, Jennifer's life becomes a nightmare of inadequacy and futility as she tries to embody her husband's idea of a virtuous woman.

Michael Wagner will stop at nothing to ensure his wife and daughters fulfill their God-given roles as helpmeets and mothers, and does everything in his power to eliminate the dangerous ideas his new wife has introduced into his family.

When Jennifer rejects Michael's authority over her, she launches the family into a crisis. Now, to escape the future her father has planned for her, Hope must find the courage to leave the only world she's ever known and pursue a life she's never been given the tools to manage.

This emotional and eye-opening book shows the reality of Christian patriarchy, and the terrible price paid by women who have no choice but to be virtuous.

Review Quotes

"A thoughtful and compassionate exploration of female autonomy in the face of repressive strictures."--Kirkus Reviews

"At its heart, Virtuous Women is a story about how our best intentions can be twisted into something deeply harmful to the human spirit. By turns emotional, humorous, and chilling, this novel doesn't shy away from the darkness, but it also never truly lets go of hope. Ann Goltz writes with compassion and nuance about characters and a community that are struggling against a belief system that isn't working for any of them, yet have trouble envisioning a better way. You'll come away from it with a renewed appreciation for the grace, forgiveness, and love many of us take for granted."--Erin Bartels, award-winning author of We Hope for Better Things