Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God Land | 2019 | Lyz Lenz | Buy |
| 2 | Belabored | 2020 | Lyz Lenz | Buy |
| 3 | Cottonwood Creek | 2020 | Lyz Lenz | Buy |
| 4 | This American Ex-Wife | 2024 | Lyz Lenz | Buy |
Lyz Lenz has published four nonfiction books between 2019 and 2024, each one blending personal experience with cultural criticism. God Land (2019) was her debut, an examination of how faith and politics shape life in small-town America, drawn from her years living in Iowa. Belabored (2020) turns to the myths and misogyny baked into American attitudes about pregnancy, told with Lenz’s mix of humor and bluntness.
Cottonwood Creek (2020), released as an Audible Original, is a memoir about growing up homeschooled in a large evangelical family in Texas, where the children explored the woods while their parents dealt with unemployment and a difficult marriage. Her most recent book, This American Ex-Wife (2024), became an instant New York Times bestseller. In it, Lenz makes the case that American marriage is broken and that divorce can be a beginning rather than a failure. Together, the four books form a body of work that returns again and again to questions about how American institutions shape women’s lives.