What do you think?
Rate this book
The Iron Woman
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
312 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1911
16 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Deland
116 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 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 19, 2022
I like reading books from the late 19th and early 20thc, but some are better than others. This one is kind of mediocre. It's a bit of a 1900's soap opera, kind of moralistic, and does homage to one of Ben Franklin's famous sayings: "Marry in haste, repent at leisure". Such is the case for Elizabeth when, after a disagreement with her fiance, David over money (his pride won't let him use hers to help support them so they can get married sooner and she takes this as an sign he doesn't love her enough), she impulsively elopes with her ex-boyfriend, Blair (whom she had previously dumped), who declares he never stopped loving her. (In truth, enjoyed getting the better of David, whom he resented for winning Elizabeth's love.) Not surprisingly, the marriage is a disaster and after discovering that an inheritance of Blair's was money that should have gone to David, Elizabeth leaves him and is soon back in David's arms. (quite a pattern here, she falls for Blair, dumps him, falls for David, dumps him, marries Blair, dumps him again and...) Their plans to run off together and force Blair to divorce her are reprimanded by David's mother, who thinks their behavior is morally wrong and won't bring them happiness and has her own past moral lapse as an example. (She also has a suitor of her own, whom she thinks she isn't worthy of.)
There's also the fact that, however flawed his character, Blair really loves Elizabeth and has tried to be a good husband and make her happy. By leaving him, not only will he be hurt, but her reputation (already not that great) will be ruined, not to mention David's medical career, for running off with a married woman. Personal desires vs. moral dilemmas.
Ms. Deland leaves the ending rather ambiguous, as you get the impression Elizabeth and David are going ahead with their plans, but then again, maybe not. The moral is supposed to be that, when you act on impulse, with no thought for others, you should pay for your selfishness with some self-sacrificing, rather than continue to act in ways that will have unpleasant consequences, because once again you're thinking of yourself.
Of course, in today's ME society, a lot of people would laugh at this. We've gone from one extreme to another, and neither one is good.
Anyway, I can't say I really liked any of the characters all too well. David was too self-righteous and unyielding, Elizabeth was too spoiled and emotional, and Blair was too irresponsible and immature. Too bad this wasn't written a few years later, as they could have all taken a nice little trip on the Titanic!
There's also the fact that, however flawed his character, Blair really loves Elizabeth and has tried to be a good husband and make her happy. By leaving him, not only will he be hurt, but her reputation (already not that great) will be ruined, not to mention David's medical career, for running off with a married woman. Personal desires vs. moral dilemmas.
Ms. Deland leaves the ending rather ambiguous, as you get the impression Elizabeth and David are going ahead with their plans, but then again, maybe not. The moral is supposed to be that, when you act on impulse, with no thought for others, you should pay for your selfishness with some self-sacrificing, rather than continue to act in ways that will have unpleasant consequences, because once again you're thinking of yourself.
Of course, in today's ME society, a lot of people would laugh at this. We've gone from one extreme to another, and neither one is good.
Anyway, I can't say I really liked any of the characters all too well. David was too self-righteous and unyielding, Elizabeth was too spoiled and emotional, and Blair was too irresponsible and immature. Too bad this wasn't written a few years later, as they could have all taken a nice little trip on the Titanic!
October 23, 2021
An early twentieth-century novel set in a fictional town that represents Pittsburgh. The focus is on three young people, the development of their characters, and how those characters shape their lives. The secondary characters were more interesting than the primary ones; I particularly liked the depiction of the "Iron Woman," mother of one of the protagonists and owner of the iron mill. Strong descriptions of the mill town, its ugliness and yet the strange beauty of iron processing. Slow in pacing; I was ready for it to end. Highly moralistic, with a conflict that would simply not be a drama in our time. Yet I give it three stars for the nuanced portrait of the powerful yet awkward and love-starved mother.
June 1, 2012
This was a hard book to get into. I just didn't like any of the characters. I won't say I hated them all (that's reserved for books like From Here to Eternity), but when you don't care about the characters, you don't care about the story.
What it essentially boils down to is a trio of childhood friends. (I'm not counting Nannie because she just wasn't very imporant.) Spoiled rich boy Blair gets engaged to mentally unstable Elizabeth while both are still in their teens. They break up before doing the I Do's. A couple of years later Elizabeth is engaged to do-gooder medical student David. When they have a minor (in my opinion) disagreement about money, Elizabeth decides to run off and marry Blair just to stick it to David. You know the old saying: marry in haste, repent in leisure, which is what the back half of the book is about. Nobody ends up happy. The end.
What it essentially boils down to is a trio of childhood friends. (I'm not counting Nannie because she just wasn't very imporant.) Spoiled rich boy Blair gets engaged to mentally unstable Elizabeth while both are still in their teens. They break up before doing the I Do's. A couple of years later Elizabeth is engaged to do-gooder medical student David. When they have a minor (in my opinion) disagreement about money, Elizabeth decides to run off and marry Blair just to stick it to David. You know the old saying: marry in haste, repent in leisure, which is what the back half of the book is about. Nobody ends up happy. The end.
February 5, 2014
Very typical style of early twentieth-century North American writing, much like L.M. Montgomery. It was pleasant enough to read, lots of good description, but the story seemed to go on and on with no real direction or plot. It was very much a moralistic story, also typical of the time. Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford, award-winning author of "The Whistling Bishop" and "F-Stop: A Life in Pictures".
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews