The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
The setting is Mississippi during the Depression. The 2 main characters of Calamity Club are Meg and Birdie. Meg was raised by her single mother, Charlie, until one day Charlie disappeared and Meg landed in an orphanage run by an awful woman named Garnett, who was obsessed with Meg and determined to make her life as miserable as possible. Birdie lives with her mother and grandmother out in rural Missisippi, where they are in danger of losing their home. Birdie's mother sends her to Oxford, MS, where Birdie's sister, Frances, has married into a wealthy family--to ask to borrow enough money to keep them from losing their home. When Birdie gets there, she gets the feeling that all is not well in the marriage. Then it is soon clear that the Tartts are having financial difficulties too, thanks to the reckless behavior of Frances's husband, Rory, who absconds with all the valuables he can carry. Then Charlie shows up in Oxford, determined to get her daughter back. The story alt...