A Family of Good Women ~ Book Review

 

A FAMILY OF GOOD WOMEN

by Teddy Jones

Historical Fiction / Texas History / 20th Century / Independent Women
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stoney Creek Publishing Group
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 1, 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 354 pages

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ABOUT THE BOOK: What is the true meaning of family?

Imogene Good finds herself wrestling with this question when, still grieving her mother’s death, she abandons a promising teaching career to open a boarding house in the near-lawless oil boomtown of Borger, Texas. Alone.

 

The business thrives, love arrives in the form of mysterious Texas Ranger, and Imogene takes in a stray dog and a runaway cousin from the Good family farm in East Texas. But months later, as fatigue, mounting threats, and violence against her business threatens to overwhelm her, she finds refuge in the contents of a trunk she carted to town after her mother’s death.

 

In it, Imogene finds secrets about the women who raised her that changes her life and her understanding of family. Can the Good women build a new life from the ashes of hardship on the inhospitable plains of the 1920s Texas Panhandle?

 

Inspired by historical events, A Family of Good Women is a compelling tale of inner strength, the bonds of family, and the power of the human spirit. 

CLICK TO BUY THE BOOK

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FABULOUS FIRST LINE

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BOOK REVIEW

I don't spend time on plot summary, so please read the book synopsis above.

HALL WAYS REVIEW: WOW! Spectacular story, spectacular writing, and A Family of Good Women by Teddy Jones gives me all the feels.

Reading A Family of Good Women was just the boost I needed as a reader; how amazing it is to seamlessly enjoy and get lost in the world a talented writer creates. And this world, set in the late 1920s (but spanning years earlier), is intriguing.

“The scenery here—oil derricks and shotgun houses with nary a tree in sight unless you count the mesquites out on the edge of town—was different from the green lushness of Central Texas. The Texas Panhandle takes some getting used to.”

Living in the Panhandle area of Texas ain’t for sissies, even in modern times, but in 1929, it was even tougher, especially in the rough and often lawless oil boom towns. And for twenty-three-year-old Imogene Good, an educated woman serving meals to the oilfield workers, it’s even rougher. But this gal is no shrinking violet, even when some of the men try to push her around and threaten violence. She uses her smarts, makes connections, and takes control through her wit, spirit, and spunk. She’s a strong woman, but she also recognizes her vulnerabilities, and that – along with her sassy red shoes – make her pop to life. 

“I love that time between sleep and waking where I see the past and the future all together, where ideas drop into my mind like feathers drifting on a breeze from a cloudless sky.”

In A Family of Good Women, the writing is dreamy, lyrical, and evocative.  I finished reading this book nearly six weeks ago, but the story remains fresh in my mind.  I also learned lots of new-to-me (but old) terminology, and the Author’s Note refers to the Women’s Commonwealth of Belton, Texas, which inspired the author to weave the tale that ultimately became the book -- and sent me down a researching rabbit hole to learn more.

I feel like the characters, along with the lovable dog, Big Guy, must still be doing their thing out in the Panhandle, in some kind of time warp where it’s 1930 or so. That’s the power of Teddy Jones’s writing. I highly recommend snagging a copy of A Family of Good Women and indulging in fascinating historical fiction and immersing yourself in engaging storytelling that’s sprinkled with a side of sass. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Since completing a graduate degree in creative writing in 2012, Teddy Jones has made creating fiction her full-time occupation. She’s had six novels and a collection of short stories published and collected some prizes along the way. Jackson’s Pond, Texas was finalist in the Women Writing the West Willa Award for contemporary fiction in 2014, and one of her short stories won the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition first prize medal in 2015. Marva Cope, another novel, was named finalist for the Sarton Award in 2024.  

Jones earned a degree in nursing and a doctorate in education, worked as a family nurse practitioner and was founding dean of the School of Nursing at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She focused on rural health promotion and was a monthly columnist for The Farmer Stockman for thirteen years. When she and her husband decided in 2001 to leave their “real jobs” and begin farming, opportunity presented itself. “If you’re going to write fiction, now’s the time,” she told herself. She’s been at it ever since.

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