For a book that is more than 100 years old, it is surprisingly modern and relevant. The story is universal — a woman breaks up a marriage with an affair, and the subsequent couple is run out of a small town in Iowa. The reaction to the town might be old-fashioned, but the raw human emotions, and the inner conflict of the characters is thoroughly modern. The couple can’t get married because the ex-wife doesn’t want to divorce her husband. “Some people, could go on with the life love had made after the love has gone,” says Ruth, the character at the center of this novel, which explores what happens when someone gets stuck emotionally, and how things might have turned out differently if Ruth had just fallen in love with someone else “like other girls in her crowd.” I think my only quibble is that the title of the book might be better with “resentment” because a lot of the emotional content which is brilliantly written is about what one character feels towards others.

I read the Belt Publishing version which has a wonderful introduction that ties its narrative to contemporary times.