Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

The club reads My Home is Far Away by Dawn Powell.

Kari is hesitant about attending Mary Jo’s wedding. She runs into Larry, who is now a judge. Kari is nervous that Mary Jo will tell her husband about Julia, but Mary Jo swears she hasn’t. Kari is worried there will be a reckoning, but Julia is more interested in chatting about a boy she met.

The club reads In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen.

Merit, like the rest of the Angry Housewives, now has a job outside the home; she is a typist, and while it’s not fulfilling, she can use the money. While Audrey has dated, Merit isn’t interested. On her lunch break, Merit goes to the library to practice the piano. She meets Frank Paradise, who regularly comes to listen to her, and they start having weekly coffee dates. Frank listens as Merit confides in him. He doesn’t have a family, though he’d love a wife and a little girl named Portia.

The club reads A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

Audrey hears her son Bryan call for her and has an image of him lying on a sidewalk. At the hospital, joined by Paul, she is told Bryan was in a vehicle accident but will recover. Davey comes to the hospital, and Audrey is touched to see him being caring with his brother. She has begun going to church, and the Angry Housewives help out as she tends Bryan during his recovery.

The women cry over their chosen book, which Toole’s mother pushed to publish after her son died. Merit thinks mothers should unite to change the world, but Faith is pessimistic. She writes a letter to her mother revealing that she’s feeling a battle in “keeping the old Faith pushed down and out of sight. Lately I feel like a kettle that’s ready to blow its top” (276). She feels lost now that her twins are growing up and moving out of the house.

The club reads Out on a Limb by Shirley MacLaine.

Fred calls to tell Slip he is going on a nine-month-long march to support nuclear disarmament. Slip goes to join him for a couple of days and is happy to see that her brother is recovering. He has become a therapist and helps people by listening. Slip is impressed by how Fred is helping a man who also served in Vietnam, listening to his story. Faith writes to her mother that she is testy with everyone and feels like she’s coming apart at the seams.

The club reads The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler.

Merit has stage fright before performing in a piano club, a gig that Frank set up for her. Their friendship has turned to courtship, then love. Frank is good with the girls, and Merit enjoys rehearsing with them. The Housewives come to watch Merit perform and think she is lucky to have found Frank. Faith writes that she has learned her mother-in-law has dementia, but that she’s happy that Beau invited her to come visit him and wants to introduce her to Shelby, whom Faith assumes is Beau’s girlfriend.

Julia helps Kari prepare for her annual Christmas party, and Kari reflects on how fast she’s grown. The party is a chance for everyone to reunite and mingle, but Faith ruins it by being snippy.

The club reads The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West.

Audrey surprises Faith at the hotel where she has gone to meet Beau. Audrey guesses that Beau is gay, and Faith reacts badly when learning that Shelby is Beau’s boyfriend. The women talk in Faith’s hotel room, and Faith agrees to meet Shelby. The next day, Faith directs Audrey to drive them to her hometown, the place where she killed her mother. In a letter, Faith recounts how, when she was home from college, she made her mother come home from the bar, and her mother, driving drunk, crashed the car and died. Faith has always felt responsible.

The club reads The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

Faith finally tells everyone about her past. The Housewives understand why she lied, but Slip is unsettled; she doesn’t have any secrets. Unable to sleep, Slip walks on her hands around the house and surprises her son Gil when he comes home. Gil reminds Slip that she’s had a very fortunate life.