What do you think?
Rate this book
The Awakening of Helena Richie
Set in 19th century fictional locale of Old Chester, a Western Pennsylvania rural village a few miles outside Pittsburgh, then an industrial boomtown. Helena Richie leaves a drunken husband, who had killed their child, and starts a new life in Old Chester with her friend Lloyd Pryor. Most believe the newcomers Helena and Lloyd are brother and sister. Helena adopts a homeless boy, David, who had been a ward of the town's minister, Dr. Lavendar. When Helena's husband dies, she thinks she sees a way forward in a new life as a family with Lloyd and young David , but matters take unexpected turns.
First published in installments in Harper's Monthly from January through July 1906.
First published in installments in Harper's Monthly from January through July 1906.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
About the author
Margaret Deland
114 books13 followersFrom Wikipedia:
Margaretta Wade Campbell was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (today a part of Pittsburgh) on February 23, 1857. Her mother died due to complications from the birth and she was left in the care of an aunt named Lois Wade and her husband Benjamin Campbell Blake.[1]
On May 12, 1880, she married Lorin F. Deland. Her husband had inherited his father's publishing company, which he sold in 1886 and worked in advertising.[1] It was at this period she began to write, first authoring verses for her husband's greeting-card business.[1] Her poetry collection The Old Garden was published in 1886.
Deland and her husband moved to Boston, Massachusetts and, over a four year span, they took in and supported unmarried mothers at their residence at 76 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill. They also maintained a summer home, Greywood, overlooking the Kennebunk River in Kennebunkport, Maine.[2] It was in this home that Canadian actress Margaret Anglin visited in 1909 and the two women looked over Deland's manuscript for The Awakening of Helena Richie. As Anglin reported, "I never spent a pleasanter time than I did while Mrs. Deland and I chugged up and down the little Kennbunkport [sic] River in a boat, talking over the future of Helena Richie."[3] The Delands kept their summer home in Maine for about 50 years.[2]
In 1910, Deland wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly recognizing the ongoing struggles for women's rights in the United States: "Restlessness!" she wrote, "A prevailing discontent among women — a restlessness infinitely removed from the content of a generation ago."[4] During World War I, Deland did relief work in France; she was awarded a cross from the Legion of Honor for her work.[1] "She received a Litt.D. from Bates College in 1920. In 1926, she was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters[1] along with Edith Wharton, Agnes Repplier and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. The election of these four women to the organization was said to have "marked the letting down of the bars to women."[5]
By 1941, Deland had published 33 books.[2] She died in Boston at the Hotel Sheraton, where she then lived, in 1945.[6] She is buried at Forest Hills Cemetery. Her home on Mount Vernon Street is a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.[7]
Margaretta Wade Campbell was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (today a part of Pittsburgh) on February 23, 1857. Her mother died due to complications from the birth and she was left in the care of an aunt named Lois Wade and her husband Benjamin Campbell Blake.[1]
On May 12, 1880, she married Lorin F. Deland. Her husband had inherited his father's publishing company, which he sold in 1886 and worked in advertising.[1] It was at this period she began to write, first authoring verses for her husband's greeting-card business.[1] Her poetry collection The Old Garden was published in 1886.
Deland and her husband moved to Boston, Massachusetts and, over a four year span, they took in and supported unmarried mothers at their residence at 76 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill. They also maintained a summer home, Greywood, overlooking the Kennebunk River in Kennebunkport, Maine.[2] It was in this home that Canadian actress Margaret Anglin visited in 1909 and the two women looked over Deland's manuscript for The Awakening of Helena Richie. As Anglin reported, "I never spent a pleasanter time than I did while Mrs. Deland and I chugged up and down the little Kennbunkport [sic] River in a boat, talking over the future of Helena Richie."[3] The Delands kept their summer home in Maine for about 50 years.[2]
In 1910, Deland wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly recognizing the ongoing struggles for women's rights in the United States: "Restlessness!" she wrote, "A prevailing discontent among women — a restlessness infinitely removed from the content of a generation ago."[4] During World War I, Deland did relief work in France; she was awarded a cross from the Legion of Honor for her work.[1] "She received a Litt.D. from Bates College in 1920. In 1926, she was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters[1] along with Edith Wharton, Agnes Repplier and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. The election of these four women to the organization was said to have "marked the letting down of the bars to women."[5]
By 1941, Deland had published 33 books.[2] She died in Boston at the Hotel Sheraton, where she then lived, in 1945.[6] She is buried at Forest Hills Cemetery. Her home on Mount Vernon Street is a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.[7]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 31, 2022
I didn't know anything about this book or its author. So, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it is! Sure, the views on divorce are dated but still it was a compelling story! The last half of it was so tense that I could hardly put it down. There was also a an interesting under current of the idea of what makes a good woman. It gave me a lot to think about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2020
This book has a high level of sexism and racism that cannot be excused by saying "its a story of its time". I read The House of Mirth just prior to reading this. The House of Mirth was published a year prior to this and has a similar story of a wealthy "fallen woman" and that did not have any of these issues. If you're looking for a book with this premise I highly recommend you skip this and read house of Mirth.
The characters in this book are extremely flat with 2D personalities that read as a caricature of a real human. The plot of this story revolved around women being seen as weak, gossipy, ignorant, and lazy. So, of course, every woman in this book over exaggerated these qualities.
All of that just makes a bad book, for the one star rating from me we've got to get into offensive territory. The next part is a spoiler but I suggest you read the spoiler and skip the book entirely.
The characters in this book are extremely flat with 2D personalities that read as a caricature of a real human. The plot of this story revolved around women being seen as weak, gossipy, ignorant, and lazy. So, of course, every woman in this book over exaggerated these qualities.
All of that just makes a bad book, for the one star rating from me we've got to get into offensive territory. The next part is a spoiler but I suggest you read the spoiler and skip the book entirely.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews