The Women Books & More’s Podcast

Abigail Adams: Founding Mother, Women’s Rights Pioneer, and America’s First White House Resident. With New York Times Bestselling Author Stephanie Dray

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, we look beyond the Founding Fathers to the formidable woman who helped shape a nation from behind the scenes — Abigail Adams.

Often remembered for urging her husband to “remember the ladies,” Abigail Adams was far more than a presidential spouse. She was an early advocate for women’s rights, a critic of slavery, a manager of family finances and farmland during wartime, and a trusted political advisor during the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

Married to John Adams — revolutionary leader, diplomat, and future president — Abigail maintained their Massachusetts farm while he served overseas and in Philadelphia. Through hundreds of letters, she offered sharp political insight, candid observations about the Continental Congress, and bold opinions about education and liberty. She also raised the couple’s children, including future president John Quincy Adams, shaping one of America’s most consequential political families.

In this episode, New York Times bestselling historical novelist Stephanie Dray joins us to discuss her latest novel, A Founding Mother, co-written with Laura Kamoie. Known for acclaimed works such as America’s First Daughter, My Dear Hamilton, and the Cleopatra’s Daughter trilogy, Dray specializes in bringing complex historical women vividly to life.

Together, we explore:

• Abigail Adams as a Founding Mother and political partner
• Her groundbreaking call for women’s legal and educational rights
• Her opposition to slavery in revolutionary America
• The realities of managing a household during war and epidemic
• What it meant to become the first presidential resident of the White House
• How historical fiction reclaims women’s voices in early American history

Abigail Adams lived through smallpox epidemics, wartime shortages, political upheaval, and the fragile birth of democracy. Yet she remained intellectually fearless — a woman who believed that liberty must extend beyond men in powdered wigs to the women who kept the nation running.

As America reflects on its founding era, Abigail’s story feels newly urgent. Her letters reveal a woman keenly aware of the contradictions of freedom in a young republic — and determined that women not be left behind.

Whether you’re passionate about American history, women’s history, the American Revolution, presidential history, or historical fiction, this conversation offers fresh insight into one of the most influential women of the 18th century.

Publication date: May 5, 2026.

Pre-order here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063234769 or www.harpercollins.com

www.stephaniedray.com

https://draykamoie.com/

 

Solo Travel for Women Over 50: Wellness, Longevity & Healthy Aging with Carolyn Ray of JourneyWoman

Can travel actually help you live longer? What if the secret to longevity isn’t just what you eat or how often you exercise but where you go?

In this episode, we explore the growing movement of wellness travel, slow travel, solo travel and the transformative power of journeys, especially for women over 50.

We’re joined by Carolyn Ray, CEO and Editor of JourneyWoman, a global resource founded in 1994 to support and inspire solo women travelers. It has grown into one of the most trusted platforms for women 50+ who want to travel confidently and independently.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Carolyn made headlines in 2018 when she downsized to a backpack and began traveling full time. In 2023, she was named one of the most influential women in travel by TravelPulse. In 2025, she co-authored Never Too Late: How Women 50+ Travelers Are Making the Rules with Lola Akinmade Åkerström, spotlighting women who are redefining midlife through travel and reinvention.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Why solo travel builds resilience and confidence after 50
• The science-backed benefits of travel for longevity
• The power of slow travel for stress reduction and mental health
• Reinvention in midlife
• How stepping outside your comfort zone can support healthy aging

This episode is for anyone curious about how travel supports longevity, vitality, and purpose.

Pack light. Stay curious.

journeywoman.com

 

Clotheslines & Memories: Laundry, Home, and Everyday Life

Once upon a Monday, before clothes dryers hummed behind closed doors, the world of women paused for laundry day. A rope stretched across a backyard became a stage for white sheets lifting like sails, overalls drying in the noonday sun, aprons whispering in the breeze.

Whether it was truly a simpler time or simply feels that way in memory, the clothesline has come to symbolize a gentler pace. Neighbors chatting over fences. Children running between fluttering towels. The scent of soap and sunshine lingering long after the clothes were taken into the house.

In remembering the clothesline, we remember a rhythm of life measured not by machines, but by daylight, fresh air, and the quiet satisfaction of work well done.

The Clothesline by Andrea VanSteenhouse and Irene Rawlings was published by Gibbs Smith in 2010 and is still available on Amazon.

#1 New York Times best-selling author Mark Greany talks about THE HARD LINE--his newest Gray Man thriller

THE HARD LINE—the 15^th in this best-selling series—starts with a blown safe house in Tunis. Then…the Gray Man barely escapes from an ambush in the jungles of Nicaragua. Now key members of the U.S. counterintelligence community are being assassinated—one by one—in their own neighborhoods. With the feds compromised, it’s up to the Gray Man and his team to stop the hit squads. 

But eliminating professional kill teams may be the least of the Gray Man’s worries when he finds himself targeted by a legendary IRA (Irish Republican Army) assassin driven out of retirement by a very personal quest to kill the Gray Man and everyone he’s ever loved.

Trust me. This action thriller is fast paced with a unexpected twists. I read it well into the night…stopping only when my eyes could no longer focus.

In the interest of full disclosure: My son, Lt. Col. Hunter “Rip” Rawlings IV (USMC, Retired), worked with Mark Greaney on RED METAL, a best seller that was published to high praise, especially from Tom Clancy fans. There are rumors that a sequel is in the works.

www.markgreaneybooks.com

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786216/the-hard-line-by-mark-greaney/

A conversation with Darla Worden about Cockeyed Happy...Part 2

Darla Worden is the Editor-in-Chief of Mountain Living magazine and Colorado Homes & Lifestyles magazine. She joins us to talk about Cockeyed Happy, her book about Ernest Hemingway’s summers in Wyoming with his second wife, Pauline.

This story is not well known. I mean…we can picture Hemingway in Paris. Fishing in Key West. Drinking rum at his favorite bar (The Floridita) in Havana. But…Wyoming?

From the book jacket: “In March 1928, after the phenomenal success of The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway returned to the U.S. with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer—the stylish Vogue editor and scorned “other woman” who would give up everything to be with him and in the end, lose it all. The couple left Paris in the wake of the gossip storm about Hemingway’s affair and abandonment of his first wife and son. Escaping to Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains to write…he finished A Farewell to Arms and fell in love with the land around him.”

They were “cockeyed happy”…until they weren’t. Hemingway went on to have two more wives after Pauline.

Darla has been fascinated by Hemingway since she was a teen in Sheridan, Wyoming. She saw his photo above the jukebox at The Last Chance Bar and was captivated.

She tells us about some of his favorite haunts in Paris. And about the Left Bank Writers Retreats she organizes (held annually in June). Eight writers spend a week immersed in Hemingway’s Paris. She calls it: “Part writers’ workshop; part tour of Paris.”

www.darlaworden.com

 

www.leftbankwriters.com

 

Here’s the NYT article about the signed Hemingway book:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/arts/hemingway-book-nobel-sister-immaculata.html

 

Paula McLain, author of the NYT bestseller The Paris Wife, talks about Skylark (her newest book) and her favorite Paris haunts.

Many of us have read and enjoyed The Paris Wife, a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway’s marriage to the first of his four wives, Hadley Richardson. It was a New York Times bestseller. Now, Paula has written Skylark, another Paris-based book—two parallel stories, one taking place in 1664 and the other in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris. It is an uplifting book about the strength and resistance of the human spirit—and a page-turner and a really good read. It is Good Morning America’s Book Club pick for January 2026.

More about Paula McLain: paulamclain.com

Some of Paula’s favorite spots in Paris:

• The Closerie des Lilas where Hemingway often wrote. Amazing profiteroles, and one of the best gin and tonics I’ve ever had.
• Musee de Cluny “I’m obsessed with the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and the Roman-Gallo baths.”
• Jardin du Luxembourg
• Sainte-Geneviève Library “Amazing history, and incredibly beautiful. Right near the Pantheon and not far from the Wall of Philip Phillip II Augustus.”

A bit more about the geology and history of the Paris Catacombs

A bit more about the Gobelins Manufactory

A bit more about the the River Bièvre

Modern West is a new book that celebrates homes with contemporary style and regional authenticity in the American West…and the people who live in them

The American West is a geographical location—thick forests of pine and aspen, snowy mountains, alpine lakes, and sweeping vistas. But there is also the almost-mythical version of the American West—a vision of wide-open spaces where the “call of the wild” has resonated for centuries. This passion for living in the west is as strong ever.

Chase Reynolds Ewald (writer) and Audrey Hall (photographer) have collaborated on seven books—including American Rustic and Cabin Style. www.gibbs-smith.com

As they researched Modern West, their newest book, they noticed something interesting. “The nature of the ‘western dream’ is different than it was even 20 years ago,” says Hall. “We are seeing a shift not only in the architecture and design of modern western homes…but also in the people who are building and living in them.”

The book features 15 gorgeous homes. We step inside two of them—a rescued grain elevator and a 1950s ranch reimagined by the president of French fabric brand Maison Pierre Frey.

To purchase MODERN WEST:

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-West-Chase-Reynolds-Ewald/dp/1423667662

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Modern-West/Chase-Reynolds-Ewald/9781423667667 

 

Chase Reynolds Ewald

Website and to sign up for newsletter: chasereynoldsewald.com

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/chasereynoldsewald/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chase-reynolds-ewald-819a0551

Instagram: @chasereynoldsewald

 

Audrey Hall

Website and to sign up for newsletter: audreyhall.com

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/audreyhallphoto/

LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreyhallphotography/

Instagram: @audreyhall

Marisa Churchill talks Secrets, Spells and Chocolate

Here’s the story: The culinary world imagined by Churchill is full of closely guarded recipes and secrets that can create powerful spells. We are taken inside the Brindille School of Culinary Arts and Magic where we are enchanted by magic, mystery…and recipes.

About the author: Marisa Churchill (an award-winning pastry chef) was a contestant on Top Chef (Season 2), constructed the city of San Francisco out of Rice Krispies and chocolate for the Food Network’s Edible Cities Challenge, and hosted her own cooking show in Greece. marisachurchill.com

Good Fortune Cookies: marisachurchill.com/good-fortune-cookies/

The Edible Cities Challenge: https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/12/10/where-recipe-meets-magic-a-guest-post-by-marisa-churchill/

Coupe du Monde de la Patisserie: cmpatisserie.com/en

and facebook.com/CoupeMondePatisserie/videos/1807091213369633/

Churchill will be at Tattered Cover Tattered in Denver on February 1^st.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/marisa-churchill-with-allison-wagner-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1979361734230

 

Request from Irene Rawlings: If you enjoyed this podcast, please tell your friends. And send me an email. I’d love to hear from you. womenbooksandmore@gmail.com