Good Woman: A Reckoning

by Savala Nolan

A raw and lyrical exploration of the confining expectations of womanhood and, if we dare, what lies beyond those limitations, from a writer Roxane Gay calls ‘vibrant and thoughtful.’ Across time and location, women were raised to be agreeable and "good." Hyper-visible as sexual objects but invisible as full people. Living in a physical world created by men for men. Taking on the ultimate role of birth-giver and caretaker, yet seeing it remain an unsung act, even as it's a God-like creation. Only in midlife did Nolan begin to realize she was capable of living outside these cages of conditioning so slyly insidious that they're nearly invisible. Good Woman elegantly probes the knotty conditions themselves, the costs of adhering to them, and what happens when one refuses to comply. The twelve stunning and unforgettable essays blend memoir, reportage, and history to create a collection that is alternately bold, brash, and explosive, and ravishingly tender, sensual, and joyous. Nolan takes aim at big and old ideas, and she does not miss. Hers is a testimony to witness and to savour.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Feminism, Audiobook, Womens, Short Stories, Contemporary

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 3, 2026

Reviews

[Elizabeth K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not quite halfway through this book yet, and I normally don’t review #NetGalley ARCs until I finish the book. But I already know that I will be rating this book very highly. I requested this advance copy because I so enjoyed Savala Nolan’s first book, but this one is better. Don't Let It Get You Down was a memoir; Good Woman is a manifesto. The writing is stronger and more powerful. Professor Nolan has clearly entered her “gives zero f*cks” era, as they say on the peri/menopause Internet, and I am here for it.

[Cassie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Mariner Books for allowing me to read this eArc. Nolan has written a very powerful series of essays about growing up black and female in America. She writes about how hard it is to be female in a man’s world. I don’t want to give too much away, but this book was excellent.

[Abby Reyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I savored these gorgeous essays, dog-earring and revisiting several, several times. Nolan lets the reader into the tender reaches of her experience with humor, smarts, and cutting critique, re/weaving ancestors and descendants into the web of life through story and history. In so doing, she invites us into our own relationships to what it means, and what it costs, to stay in the smallness of our society’s notion of what makes a good woman. I grew from reading this collection; I got three copies for my goddaughters.

[Courtney Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Woman knocked me out with its fresh, wide-ranging insights, intellectual heft, emotional courage, and humor. I devoured it, which is fitting because it's all about women's desires and how powerful they can be in this deeply broken world. The intersectional feminist analysis is spot on, but not "academic" or preachy. I just loved it. I will read everything Savala Nolan writes from here on out. She did such justice to the essay form.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. It is SO dang good. 👏👏👏

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Woman: A Reckoning is a powerful essay collection by Savala Nolan that interrogates the burdens of societal expectations placed on women and imagines life beyond them. Nolan weaves memoir, reportage, history, philosophy, and legal insight across twelve essays that are at once intimate and sweeping in scope.

The collection explores Nolan’s journey from compliance and silence to resistance and clarity: “a lifetime of playing by the rules of female social conditioning,” and how none of it delivered protection or fulfillment the way it promised. Through lyrical, raw prose, Nolan dissects her experiences from unwanted conformity, a troubled marriage, and societal demands placed on identity and body in order to uncover what unfolds when one refuses the script written for them.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great group of essays centered on various aspects of womanhood. Felt very authentic, unfiltered, raw, honest, and relatable.

[⟢ mirela ⟢ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I enjoyed reading this book. The author’s writing style is smooth, engaging, & direct. Her perspective felt raw & honest & I found myself relating more than I initially thought I would. I appreciated how she gave voice to experiences that are often difficult to articulate.

[Jigyasa Kumari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a Goodreads Giveaway!

Good Woman: A Reckoning by Savala Nolan is a collection of essays that discuss gender, sexuality (and to a certain extent, race) in the modern world. The collection manages to capture the contradictory experience of being a woman in present day society. We are told to consider our constraints as rewards, to sacrifice our own desires for those of others, and to be invisible when needed. We are taught that to be good means to carry the moral weight of society. Nolan "rejects" this notion of goodness. Instead, she emphasises the importance of freedom.

I found this book to be extremely relatable (for instance, the whole of "Wyoming" was something my friends have experienced in real life). Even when the essays discuss age-old topics like sexual assault, slavery, and bodily autonomy, they have a fresh perspective. Nolan's personal struggles of preventing this patriarchal legacy from reaching her daughter are extremely touching.

All in all, I felt that this was a thought-provoking work that invites women to question the cultural roles they are situated in, and how they can move to a more fulfilling way of living.

[Kristine Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This essay collection is a must read. Life as a Black woman, life as a mother, life as a wife, life as a divorced person, life as a person in a larger body. What do these various perspectives give us? Empathy but also intentionality with how we choose to show up in the world and for ourselves as women.

[Chelsea Long · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. So much of it was relatable and made me laugh or smile despite myself. Every essay gave me rich food for thought and caused me to reflect on my own life and experiences, even if I couldn't directly relate to the experiences of the author. I love the generosity of feminist writers to put to paper experiences in life that I previously felt like we weren't allowed to talk about out loud. Thank you, Savala, for your bravery on every page.

[Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. These were GOOD. Of course I liked some of them more than others, but I really enjoyed the writing style and the topics discussed here. These essays were very open and raw, I missed reading non-fiction.

[Codi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the concept of this book and the authors thoughts on certain things. I felt I didn’t relate to a majority of essays because I haven’t been married and don’t have kids so that was honestly boring to me. I did appreciate her essays on women, women’s bodies, and being a black woman in our society. I think I just wasn’t the right audience for most of the book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner for the Arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Chastidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might need to become required reading.

[ouliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

but why do people think their opinions matter so much

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5) Good Woman: A Reckoning by Savala Nolan is a searing, clear reflection on what it has cost so many women to be called “good.”

Nolan writes with a rage that feels earned and exquisitely controlled. She traces a lifetime of trying not to rock the boat, of shrinking herself, accommodating harm, staying silent to keep the peace and then grieves that obedience for what it truly was: a waste of her "talent, juice, seeds, and time"- I love the way she writes. The clarity of her voice is breathtaking as she names how thoroughly patriarchy fails to protect women, even when they do everything they were told would keep them safe.

Her essays on motherhood are my favorite. As the granddaughter of a minister and a mother herself, Nolan questions why God is imagined as male and what a divinity rooted in motherhood might actually require. Her refusal of praise and submission as virtues lands with force, especially when she writes about how much motherhood takes from women and how casually that sacrifice is normalized.

Nolan is also unflinching in her reflections on sexual assault, the joy of marriage, and the quiet devastation of divorce. Her writing about the loneliness women carry inside unhappy marriages is tender and devastating. And threaded through it all is a fierce love for her daughter: a commitment to raising a girl who knows their power, voice, and agency even if that means becoming “bad” in a world that punishes women for their refusal.

This essay collection is grieving, joyful, and deeply liberating. It doesn’t just ask what it means to stop being good. It shows us what becomes possible when a woman finally chooses herself.

[Giorgia Grayson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to start by saying this was a brilliantly written book that just was not for me. I could not put it down but the reflections just did not hit.

I’m honestly confused by all the rave reviews. This is an excellently written book don’t get me wrong but I found the content often in poor taste.

I love a book about female rage but this book felt confused. If I had a penny for every contrary statement made I’d be rich. The first half of the book felt like the author was declaring war on men, specifically her ex husband without being able to clearly state what she wanted except for them to go away.

While the issues the author discussed are all important and I can agree that socionormative gender norms can put women into boxes and be constrictive. The author would proclaim her disgust about stereotypes just to conform and confirm them later in the chapter. Was this a statement about how infiltrated our actions are by said stereotypes?

Reading this book at times felt like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. I can understand that I am not the target audience for this book but I found most of her commentary (excluding that of her experience of race) to come off as jaded and bitter. This book was made to be controversial and it has done an excellent job of just that but in my opinion it promoted the worst kind of feminism. No reform just rage.

This book is a rant of the female experience. Affirming every critical thought you’ve ever had about society. Of you are angry and needing an outlet this book is for you.

I often found myself wondering if the author were to have a son instead of a daughter would her opinion on men be different?

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love love loved this book. Nolan put words to many concepts I have felt in my soul but, without realizing it, have struggled to articulate myself. The exploration of God as a woman and time as a spiral really expanded my approach to my own ideas of womanhood. I’ve mentioned this essay collection to almost every person I’ve spoken to this past week, and I believe the writing will continue to linger in my mind for a long time. Could the essays have been linked a little better or perhaps reorganized? Yes. Did Nolan delve a little too deeply into vocabulary so advanced that even my literary-oriented self had to google terms? Yes, and that was pretty distracting (hence my 4 star rating instead of 5). However, even if I forget the book that influenced them, my thoughts are forever changed. Looking at it apart from its themes, this book was also an enjoyable read. Nolan’s writing is personal and intimate. It’s filled with a blend of witty one-liners, descriptive literary passages, and protracted metaphors. It keeps you on your toes. Pulling from Latin phrases (the influence of Nolan’s law career on her writing is evident) and popular culture, it’s smart. It’s relatable. It’s persuasive. I want more of it and will definitely be seeking out Nolan’s other published pieces.

[Kenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The scope of this book is incredible in both the breadth of topics it tackles and in how it somehow unites them all in one coherent whole. It changed how I think about womanhood, beauty, creativity, and what it means to be truly free. Not to mention how its searingly gorgeous prose makes even the most challenging subject matter feel like a garden of wonders to admire and explore.
My favorite essay, Mothers Superior, should be required reading for anyone considering becoming a mother (or honestly, anyone who has a mother or knows a mother). It's the first time I've ever seen motherhood captured in print both accurately and entirely. Another essay, Which Men, has been rattling around my brain since I read it, reorganizing my internal framework for thinking about sexual assault and the behaviors and systems that protect it. And the wrenching words of Lest We Die of Hunger brilliantly weave together threads of race, art history, pop culture, and the question of who is entitled to create. Every essay is an exquisite gem, refracting the light in unique and unexpected ways. This book is worth your time to read, and then read again.

[Eirinie Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Nolan says “I’m not grinding an ax, I am sharpening a blade. There’s a difference”, believe her. This is a blade of a book, and it is ours to feel the power of, to wield. The first chapter of GOOD WOMAN left my jaw agape- it is a pistol whip of an opening, and what follows is just as potent. At a time when being a woman, particularly a Black woman, feels like being a living target, I am grateful for Nolan’s sharp, clear eyed, vulnerable look at what we have decided womanhood is, who it serves, and how we move through it. The perfect companion book to DON’T LET IT GET YOU DOWN, GOOD WOMAN is everything we have come to expect from Nolan– blisteringly intelligent, well honed, sharp arguments laid next to the softest and most tender parts of herself, bared to us, encouraging us to do the same.
Having this book in my corner feels like armour, it feels like a shield, it feels, not like being in the woods with a man or a bear, but rather, an army of your very own. With Nolan at our side, the past, present and future are visible all at once, and all at once it is an arresting, sobering, electrifying work.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Mariner Books for the free ARC of Good Woman a Reckoning.

This is an essay collection blended memoir about being a woman, being a girl, wanting something the patriarch told you to want but wouldn’t be considered a proper “feminist” to want it, and so much more. This book is raw in a way I have not read feminist literature before, I am new in this genre but how Savala Nolan delivered each essay with personal experiences, social commentary and history was immersive.

Some essays were harder to connect with regarding motherhood and marriage as I am neither a mother nor married, but even within those essays there is something to be taken away regarding the emotional distance and lack of communications men are taught which snowballs into women taking the emotional brunt of a relationship sometimes.

I really enjoyed reading the authors passion in each essay in looking at past and present within their own life and seeing what they could add to the issues to teach and maybe spark something in someone to continue the change.

[Maricruz Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

My gratitude to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC.

In this powerful collection of essays, Savala Nolan offers a poignant reflection on what it means to live as a Black woman in the modern United States. Across twelve essays, she weaves together memoir, philosophy, and history to create a deeply personal yet widely resonant narrative.

Nolan’s voice is raw, honest, and unapologetic, while her writing style remains clear and direct. She moves thoughtfully between the personal and the political, examining identity, marriage, motherhood, grief, and belonging with striking vulnerability.

While some essays speak most directly to the specific experiences of Black womanhood, the emotional core of Nolan’s writing (love, loss, joy, and resilience) feels widely relatable. Her reflections on navigating both private and public expectations make this collection both intimate and thought-provoking.

Good Woman: A Reckoning is a powerful and timely work that invites readers to sit with difficult truths while also celebrating the complexity of identity and self-understanding.

[meg(an) · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was beautiful. i think everybody should read a book like this (either this one specifically or something similar) in attempt to better understand what it's like navigating the world as a woman

the first essay was my favourite. it always is, to a fault. and because i started on such a high at the beginning, the rest of the essays unfortunately fell a bit flat. it's through no fault of the writing - it was poetic, and beautiful, and spoke to the soul. i resonated a lot with the first essay, so i was chasing that high for the rest of the book, in a way

reading books central to womanhood as a woman can be really daunting. you'd think, since i live every day as a woman, i know all there is to experiencing misogyny and the normalcy of sexual assault and the crippling gender norms. but i learned a lot about womanhood from this book that was both harrowing and empowering. even after everything working against us, rooting against us, making our everyday lives a constant battle, we still find a way. and i think that's truly amazing

anyway #ilovewomen

[lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok, in particular the essays about Sally Hemmings, and the essay where she goes to visit the land that once housed her family's plantation. (These might have been the same essay; everything in this book kind of blurs together.) I was extremely bored by her thoughts about her marriage, and although I do admire the ferocity she has in the first part of the book when talking about her daughter at some point it starts to feel very performative, and I started skimming every time I realized she about to go on a tangent on how she wants her daughter to be free and brave and blah blah blah.

This read like a very earnest version of certain books of essays. It didn't have much humor though.

[Tonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not much of my cup of tea but it was still a good write. I wish author would not have harbored on certain moments for as long as she did. For example, the issue with the ex-husband (which it took a while to know he was not ex-husband from fiancé at the time). One event turns into a whole dissertation about his not poking out his chest to be superman in the moment and just assumptions of his feelings, reasons and views on the event without ever asking him. If you are going to write so in-depth about a situation and create various reasons and scenarios, please have a conversation with the person about it at least once. There are still poignant points in the books especially when dealing with the issues of black women and the need to be strong and viewed as strong.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It's is a sharp, raw, intimate collection of essays about the suffocating script of being a “good woman.” Nolan examines the expectations placed on women—be agreeable, be small, be grateful—and asks what it might look like to step outside of them.

Her writing is both intellectually precise and deeply personal, weaving together stories about race, appetite, motherhood, ambition, and the body. What I loved most is how she allows contradictions to exist without trying to tidy them up.

This book feels like a reckoning in the truest sense—honest, thoughtful, and quietly liberating for anyone who has ever felt trapped by the performance of being “good.” Read it!

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Mariner books and the author themselves, Savala Nolan for this 4 star read. While the book was given to me via an epub, my reviews and feelings remain my own.

This felt like an honest read with a lot of heart. It almost was a lot to digest in a single book, and did take me some time to read and come back to things. Though overall I appreciated the authors perspective and storytelling. The story telling and flow is absolutely fantastic but this is packed, which is good and bad. Overall I really appreciated this book and would read it again.

The essays are engaging, relevant and not all recycled fluff. Recommend picking up.

[Judy Halebsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been waiting to read this book since I read and loved Nolan's first book "Don't Let It Get You Down" a few years ago. I picked up a copy at my local bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway's, yesterday and it's a page turner. I'm already more than halfway through and totally immersed. I'm holding on tight through the intensity of the writing and the searing rebuke of exernal and internalized expectations of gender. This is a fantastic book that is changing the way I see my life and the forces that have shaped me.

[Gemma Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books I will be thinking about and recommending to my friends for years to come. Savala Nolan writes some of the most beautiful and incisive prose I have ever encountered in an essay collection. She moves between the soft messiness of her humanity and the sharp critiques of the systems that harm in ways that will give you whiplash (in the best sort of way), and God does she know how to do a mic drop. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

((4.5 stars))

Really enjoyed this collection of essays. Thoughtful and engaging writing. I actually read one chapter a day, sometimes rereading entire sections because I wasn’t ready for it to end. Womanhood, in all its glory, captured brilliantly by Nolan’s sharp commentary.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for this ARC. Expected release is March 3, 2026.