Seventeen years after the global success of The Help, bestselling author Kathryn Stockett is returning to fiction with The Calamity Club, a sweeping new novel that explores resilience, friendship and the transformative power of women supporting one another in difficult times. Penguin Random House India has announced the publication of the book.

Set in Oxford, Mississippi, during the Great Depression, The Calamity Club follows the intertwined lives of three women from vastly different backgrounds—Meg, an eleven-year-old orphan; Birdie, an outspoken young woman seeking help from her wealthy estranged sister; and Charlie, a resilient woman with little left to lose. When their paths converge, they embark on a bold plan that could alter their futures while challenging the social hierarchies that have long kept them powerless.

Blending humour with emotional depth, the novel explores themes of class, poverty, gender, belonging and quiet rebellion. Through an unlikely sisterhood, Stockett examines how women can create strength and dignity through community and mutual support, even in the face of adversity.

The novel arrives at a time when readers are increasingly drawn to stories centred on female solidarity, reinvention and emotional survival. Like The Help, The Calamity Club combines richly drawn characters with sharp social observation and an expansive historical backdrop.

Stockett’s debut novel, The Help, became an international phenomenon, selling millions of copies worldwide, spending more than two years on bestseller lists and inspiring an Academy Award-winning film adaptation. The Calamity Club marks her long-awaited return to fiction and offers a timely reminder that even in the darkest moments, unexpected alliances can spark extraordinary change.