The Bride's House

by Dawn Powell

Sophie is eager for marriage to the stable Lynn, but when she encounters Jerome, her restless and passionate nature surfaces, and she allows herself to be seduced, and struggles to find happiness

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, American

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Dawn Powell was an American writer of satirical novels and stories that manage to be barbed and sensitive at the same time.

Reviews

[Maryellen]

An early work of Dawn Powell and from what is referred to as her Ohio stories. Written in 1929 the plot is one that is a bit over used yet the four star rating is for some bits of writing that are just beautifully fitting of the social setting. What some authors hint at in this era are taken on with a more directness by Powell The theme of suppressed feelings, marriage and the thought process of self awareness are all expressed in a manner that is not overly wrought but still has an emotional hook. It has its flaws to be sure, but really a nice example of the early movement in women's writing of a more realistic than romantic viewpoint.

[Sarah]

A strange and obscure little book written in the 1920s, about a rural Ohio woman torn between her husband and a lover. As Dawn Powell‘s biographer puts it well, this novel reads as romance fiction but with all the dark and bleak stylization of a Theodore Dreiser story.

[Pascale]

Before she became a writer, Dawn Powell was a hormonal teenager who fantasized about marrying Mr. Right while also being ravaged by a dark stranger. How deliciously sinful that would be! The embarrassing thing is that Powell was 29 years old when she wrote this, and it was her third novel. Still, this story amounts to nothing more than the kind of romance most newly nubile girls have sloshing around in their brains. Everything about this book is pathetic, starting with the heroine's name: Sophie Truelove!

[Christina Harris]

Intriguing treatment of the subject given the time it was written in. I only gave it 3 stars because of the ending. Very unsatisfying. Interested to read more of her works but not if they all end in a similar manner!

[Leslie Reiber]

Ohio, late nineteenth century ... a woman's clash with her boundries

[Jane Barber]

American Lit. Characters were well defined, story old school but intriguing, twists. However, there is some disconnect as to why the dysfunctional, radical actions taken by the main characters. A little too reliant on high romance novels. This is Powell's third novel, her first still in print and first to be more widely read.

[Clara]

I couldn't get past the errors she made identifying the way people were related. Is that petty of me? Also, I didn't care much about the heroine. She reminded me of Louis Bromfield's steel mill sisters. Both of them. Ugh.

[Joanne]

Somewhat dated, but interesting and sensitive.

[Carrie Best]

Why haven't I heard about her before?? Wonderful book. Will read more of her writings