VEIN OF IRON

by Ellen Glasgow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 1935

A new Ellen Glasgow has a place always open, and can be counted on as a sure best seller and best renter. The selection as September Book-of-the-Month gives it an impetus in general discussion...Her first novel since The Sheltered Life -- and in sharp distinction to that, is the story of a rebel against conventions, a girl with the blood of pioneers in her veins, a tradition of fortitude and strength. The setting is the Great Valley of Virginia, a town where opposing forces met in Ada's grandmother, a pillar of the Presbyterian faith, with its Calvinistic doctrines of relentless punishment for any deviation from the narrow path of rectitude, and in her father, a heretic, a philosopher, expelled from his pulpit for his beliefs, but governed by a moral code of a rigid society. One senses, running counter to the emotional plea for tolerance and a broader vision, another current of belief in a God that will not be cheated, for Ada's challenge to convention bears bitter fruit in the disillusionment of her life with the man she loves. There is power in the revealing of the characters, growth on the one hand, disintegration on the other. It is a book sure to be widely discussed for its implications, perhaps, more than for its actual achievement.

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1935

ISBN: 0156934760

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1935

Categories: NONFICTION