Hill House Divided by S. Lee Fisher is the third in her series, The Women of Campbell County. This one is set in the early 1950s and focuses on Olive Westchester’s youngest daughter, Harriet, and her husband, Eddy, who is stationed in Italy during the Korean war. Like her mother before her, Harriet is clever and ambitious, but she has advantages that her mother never had. For one thing, with Eddy far away in Italy, she is free to concentrate on her own life, making it what she desires without having to be the dotting wife.

As frustrating as it was to see Olive lose all her chances in the first book of this series, it’s gratifying to see Harriet grab hers with both hands. Readers will be happy to see her succeed, especially as her feckless husband is following his own path without giving a thought to his wife missing him back home. When he returns, you just want her to slam the door in his face and turn to his more loyal brother.

As with the second book, Fisher recounts each scene while giving readers a high-level overview of what is going on. I feel there is not a lot of insight into the characters’ motivation or their inner world. While there isn’t a lot of action in the book, I think this is because this is more of a story about Harriett’s efforts to be her own woman and build a life she can be happy in. This dramatic historical fiction story gives readers a look at the challenges a woman faces when her husband is away at war in the 1950s.

I found Eddy’s story in Italy to be particularly interesting. Unfortunately, I suspect that this part of the story will come back to haunt Harriet in the next installment. As for Olive, she is as objectionable as ever until near the end, when readers will wonder what is causing her change of heart, leaving them anxious for the next installment in this series.

Hill House Divided: The Women of Campbell County is a cozy family saga about life as a woman in the 1950s. The historical fiction element will give readers an intriguing view of life at the time and the struggles people faced in society.

Pages: 329 | ASIN : B09Q1KC29Y