The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Meyers, Adele. The Tobacco Wives. Harper Collins Publishers, 2022.

Momma wakes fifteen-year-old Madeline Sykes in the middle of the night to declare they are leaving home. They live in North Carolina. The year is 1946. Daddy died a year ago after volunteering to fight in World War Two. Maddie is sad to leave her new sewing jeb.

Momma drops Maddie off at Aunt Etta’s house in Bright Leaf. Aunt Etta is surprised to see them. Momma explains that she is leaving Maddie so that she may find a suitor. Maddie is used to spending her summers with Aunt Etta, who works as a seamstress.

Maddie has breakfast the next day with Aunt Etta and Etta’s secret lover, Frances. Etta and Maddie head to Mrs. Winston’s home for a fitting. Mrs. Winston is one of the “tobacco wives” of Bright Leaf and a highly influential woman (16). She dotes on both Etta and Maddie.

Etta and Maddie head to the factory to help the factory’s tailor, Anthony, make some uniforms. The factory is promoting MOMints: mint cigarettes for women. Maddie returns home to find a gift from Mitzy: a dress for the town’s Summer Solstice celebration.

At the Summer Solstice, Maddie enjoys roaming the stalls in the factory’s warehouse. At Mitzy’s stand, Mitzy introduces Maddie to her friend, Rose Hale, and Rose’s mother-in-law, Cornelia. Mitzy’s stand focuses on the history of Bright Leaf. She thanks Cornelia for contributing her husband’s business notes. Cornelia retorts that the notes are her own. She played a crucial role in establishing the tobacco industry in Bright Leaf.

Mitzy also introduces Maddie to David: Mitzy’s godson, who lives with her. David and Maddie branch off and ride the Ferris wheel. David says he admires that Mitzy works and that she knows what she wants. He dreams of becoming an engineer.

The next morning, Aunt Etta feels sick during a fitting with the tobacco wives. Mitzy sends her to see Dr. Hale. Maddie spends the afternoon with David.

David helps Maddie call Dr. Hale to check in on Etta. She takes a piece of paper from Mr. Winston’s trash to record the hospital number. That evening, Mitzy announces that Maddie will stay with them until Etta is better. At dinner, Mitzy burns herself while serving Mr. Winston. Maddie recalls a woman with burned hands at the factory and mentions this, which offends Mr. Winston, who owns the factory.

The next morning, Maddie and Anthony have a successful fitting with Cornelia. Cornelia gives Maddie a feminist book about powerful Southern women. In the afternoon, Maddie meets with Frances, who informs Maddie that Etta is in critical condition. Afterwards, Maddie realizes that the paper she took to write Dr. Hale’s number on is actually a confidential letter addressed to Mr. Winston from Dr. Hale. Dr. Hale informs Mr. Winston of studies proving that cigarettes are harmful for expecting mothers and babies. That evening, Mitzy surprises Maddie with a sewing studio in the house. Maddie feels overwhelmed by Mitzy’s kindness and does not know what to make of the woman’s attention. Maddie and David spend the whole night talking in her studio.

Several tobacco wives come to Maddie’s studio the next day for fittings. Anthony helps her too. That evening, he drives her to a secret women’s meeting at the factory. The women at the meeting discuss striking to get better working conditions. Maddie spots Ashley, Mitzy’s sister, there. Ashley asks Maddie not to mention seeing her there. Ashley is genuinely interested in what the workers have to say. She encourages Maddie to keep working. That night, Maddie tells Mitzy that she dreams of becoming a mother.

At church on Sunday, Maddie feels uncomfortable standing with the Winstons. David asks Maddie if he can take her out after Mitzy’s Fourth of July party. She accepts. She spends the day working with Anthony. She learned that Momma is living in Nashville with a new man. Cornelia sends Maddie an essay by Virginia Woolf.

On the Fourth, David takes Maddie to a covered bridge he admires. They kiss. A couple of days later, Mitzy goes to the hospital. She is pregnant and in pain. Maddie and Ashley accompany her. Maddie is horrified when Dr. Hale encourages Mitzy to smoke MOMints to calm down. That night, she tells Anthony and David about the confidential letter.

David and Maddie visit Dr. Hale under the pretense of having him check on David’s asthma. They ask him about a rumor they heard about cigarettes being harmful. Dr. Hale reassures them, showing them studies proving that they are safe. Maddie says she worried about that letter of Dr. Hale’s for nothing. After David leaves, Dr. Hale threatens to stop Aunt Etta’s treatment if Maddie goes public with her knowledge. He points out that Aunt Etta and Frances would have difficulty maintaining their relationship in a different town.

The next day, Maddie visits Aunt Etta in the hospital. Frances is there. She tells them everything she knows and about Dr. Hale’s threats. They agree that she should tell Mitzy. Maddie does so that evening. Mitzy is shocked to hear about the letter. She confronts Mr. Winston in his office.

At the Gala, Maddie feels proud of the tobacco wives’ dresses she designed. Mitzy makes a surprise announcement: she, Cornelia, and Ashley are all joining the factory’s boardroom. Maddie is greatly disappointed that Mitzy is helping conceal the harmfulness of cigarettes. Maddie returns to Aunt Etta’s after the Gala and finds a letter from Momma, who announces that she will collect Maddie soon.

Forty-five years later, Maddie is married to David and lives in Raleigh. Mitzy comes over to give her the documents which prove the American tobacco industry was concealing knowledge of tobacco’s dangers from the public. She feels she has nothing to lose now that Mr. Winston is dead. Maddie intends to use the documents to help her lobby in Congress for a ban on cigarette advertising.