“Every day, millions watch Mia Wright, the “trad wife” queen, on her idyllic 300-acre farm. With her handsome husband, seven perfect children, and a life of from-scratch meals, she’s an icon of modern femininity. But behind every perfect image is a lie.

Desperate to save her tarnished career, journalist Jenny Kaplan arrives at Black Swan Farm to profile Mia. Jenny is ready to write a scathing exposé, determined to uncover the deception behind Mia’s curated life.

But there’s something wrong at the farmhouse.

It slithers through Jenny’s dreams when the children sing strange nursery rhymes at night. She’s losing time. She’s losing her hair. She starts to worry that she’s losing her mind.

There is a horror at the heart of Black Swan, and it’s waiting just for Jenny.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Trad Wife by Sarah Langan. Trad Wife was published by Tor Nightfire on 14th May 2026 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow. I chose to read a free eARC of Trad Wife but that has in no way influenced my review.

No, you’re not experiencing Déjà Vu; I have already reviewed a book on the blog this year called Trad Wife (you can read my review HERE). Yes, it was also a horror novel and yes, the cover’s colour scheme was also pinky/black. Coincidence? Is there such a thing? Now, I am enjoying the influx of trad wife fiction because the whole thing fascinates me (not on a ‘I want to be a trad wife’ level but more of a ‘I don’t really understand what drives a woman to want to become a trad wife’). I would gladly, happily read another ten/fifteen trad wife books this year if they ended up on my Kindle.

I have also wanted to read a second book by Sarah Langan since reading Good Neighbours back in 2021. I loved Good Neighbours so much that I am surprised it’s taken me this long. So when the perfect storm presented itself (a book by Langan, about the trad wife craze) there was no way I was going to let it pass me by. I was as captivated and as engrossed by this novel as I was with Good Neighbours. Langan is definitely an author I need to read more of. I loved Langan’s dark and creepy take on the whole trad wife trend.

Jenny Kaplan’s career went down the pan a while ago. The last few years have not been easy, so when Jenny tries to resurrect her flagging future by writing a tell-all piece about how disastrous her life is and the choices she’s made, it inevitably ends up with her becoming infamous and ultimately ‘cancelled’. Desperate to turn the tide, she agrees to spend time with Mia Wright, the internet’s favourite trad wife, at her idyllic homestead in rural Pennsylvania. On a mission to bring Mia and her seemingly perfect life crashing down, Jenny arrives at Black Swan Farm full of optimism. But something is….off here. Everything on the surface is perfect. But there’s something…. not quite right. Convinced by a desperate Mia to return for a longer stay, wanting to prove to Jenny that she is exactly as she presents online, Jenny packs a bag and moves in with the family. But she can’t shake the feeling that something is very, very wrong at Black Swan Farm…

Wow, that was one intense creep-ride! The sense of something being horribly wrong at Black Swan Farm and how the author conveys that building dread and menace to the reader is done incredibly well. You know something isn’t right, Jenny knows something isn’t right, but it takes a while for what the problem is to be revealed. By this point, you’re fully invested in both the characters (to one degree or another), the setting and the situation. I actually really liked Jenny. I don’t think she’s going to be everyone’s cup of tea but I like characters who own their flaws and that’s kind of how Jenny presents. She’s complex, interesting, and I wanted her to come out on top. Mia, on the other hand, is mysterious and secretive. You never feel you ever really know the real her until much later on in the book, but that’s intentional. Just sit back and watch as this dark, foreboding tale unfolds in front of you.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I thoroughly enjoyed every dark and twisted moment of this exceptional novel. The isolation of the farm is suffocating; the surrounding small-town vibes only add to the solitude of the setting. Poor Jenny. Things really aren’t going to get any better for her. During her stay at the farm she notices things that just don’t make any sense. Tiny things. Things others would miss. When she confronts Mia, Mia denies it all. Is Jenny losing her mind? What is going on here?! But then Jenny notices strange things about the children too. She starts having peculiar dreams and, worst of all, her hair starts falling out. She’s very much on her own. Surrounded by the Wright family and the odd local villagers, who are all dependent on Mia for their livelihood. Add being stuck at the homestead due to the bad weather, and it becomes clear that no one is coming to rescue Jenny. I loved how the situation escalates as you approach the end of the book. That sense of dread and foreboding ratchets up a few notches and things take a very gripping turn. All in all, I savoured every moment of Trad Wife which drips with unease and trepidation. You know this isn’t going to end well, and that overarching feeling reaches every corner of the novel from beginning to end. Highly readable, totally immersive, and I loved everything about this twisted tale. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Trad Wife. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Trad Wife by Sarah Langan was published in the UK by Tor Nightfire on 14th May 2026 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Apple Books [eBook] x Apple Books [Audio] | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Sarah grew up on Long Island and got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and also received her Master’s in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology from New York University. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughters, and rabbits.

She’s received three Bram-Stoker awards for her fiction, and her work has often been included in best-of-the year lists and anthologies. She’s a founding board member of the Shirley Jackson Awards, and works in both film and prose.