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 alternates between what is happening to Meg and the crazy plan Charlie comes up with to get her back, which involves Birdie. I don't want to give away too many more details of the plot.

My main takeaway from this story was that I was glad not to be a woman living in Mississippi during the 1930s because clearly, the men had all the power.