Private Life by Jane Smiley

'It kept me up all night, long after I'd finished it, remembering the lives of my mother and grandmothers, recalling every novel about women I had ever read.'
Washington Post

At the turn of the twentieth century in rural Missouri, Margaret Mayfield, regarded as an old maid at twenty-seven, marries Captain Andrew Early. He's the most famous man their small town has ever produced: a brilliant astronomer and a naval officer. But from the moment their train leaves for his naval base in faraway California, Andrew's behaviour confounds Margaret. When personal tragedies strike and national crises envelop the country, Margaret is forced to reconsider the life she has so carefully constructed.