Back to the Garden vs The Book Club for Troublesome Women: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Adult, Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction
Back to the Garden
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A magnificent house, vast formal gardens, a golden family that shaped California, and a colorful past filled with now-famous artists: the Gardener Estate was a twentieth-century Eden. And now, just as the Estate is…
The Book Club for Troublesome Women
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By early 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan, Viv Buschetti, and Bitsy Cobb, suburban housewives in a brand-new "planned community" in Northern Virginia, appear to have it all. The fact that "all" doesn't feel like enough…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Book Club for Troublesome Women has the widest readership — 155168 ratings behind its score.
- Back to the Garden runs the darker storyline; The Book Club for Troublesome Women stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| Back to the Garden | The Book Club for Troublesome Women | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (5590) | 4.1 (155168) |
| Hardcover | — | 4.2 (35) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (70) | 4.5 (869) |
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Reception
| Back to the Garden | The Book Club for Troublesome Women | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 5590 | 155168 |
| Editions | 4 | 1 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | — |
| Want to read | 28440 | 214531 |
| Reading it now | 559 | 22351 |
| Written reviews | 809 | 15276 |
| Wikipedia attention | 77 | — |
| Pages | 322 | 392 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Back to the Garden or The Book Club for Troublesome Women?
The Book Club for Troublesome Women has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Book Club for Troublesome Women 4.1/5, Back to the Garden 3.9/5).
Which is shorter to read: Back to the Garden or The Book Club for Troublesome Women?
Back to the Garden is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Back to the Garden (322 pages, ≈ 5 h 58 m); The Book Club for Troublesome Women (392 pages, ≈ 7 h 16 m).
Which is harder to read: Back to the Garden or The Book Club for Troublesome Women?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Back to the Garden: Moderate; The Book Club for Troublesome Women: Moderate.