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Broken Barriers
General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1922 Original Publisher: Scribner Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER FOUR That Irene and Kemp should embrace and kiss at the table Grace assumed to be the accepted procedure at such parties. Kissing to the accompaniment of cocktails was not without its piquancy, but the picture presented by Irene and Kemp she found unedi- fying. Under the stimulus of alcohol Kemp and Irene seemed to have thrown away the dignity with which they had begun the party. Grace was not without her experience of kissing, but her experiences had been boy-and-girl transactions, all the sweeter for their privacy. She wondered whether it might not be necessary for Trenton to kiss her, but instead he rebuked Kemp and Irene with mock severity for their unbecoming conduct. j "You two have no manners! We're terribly embarrassed on this side of the table." "Do excuse us!" cried Kemp. "We were merely carried away by our emotions. I just happened to remember that I hadn't kissed Irene for a week." "Well, you needn't pull that cave man stuff here," said Irene petulantly. She opened her vanity box and squinted at herself in the tiny mirror. "Pardon, everybody, while I powder my nose." "Ward's never been kissed to my knowledge, Grace," said Kemp, apparently undisturbed by Irene's complaint of his roughness. "The field's open to you!" "Oh, we're not going to begin in public," said Grace; "are we Ward?" f She turned smilingly toward Trenton, who met her gaze quizzically. "I'll say I've never been so tempted before," he answered. "Oh, you're bound to come to it!" cried Irene. "Grace can't pretend she's never been kissed. She's just a little coy, that's all." "I'm n...
234 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 2008
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About the author
Meredith Nicholson
201 books14 followersMeredith Nicholson was a best-selling author, a politician, and a diplomat.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 18, 2018
Social realist novel about the emerging "new woman" of the 1920's, written by a sympathetic old Hoosier.
Grace Durland is from a proud Indianapolis family hit by hard times. Having to leave college, she takes a job as a salesgirl. Intelligent, interested in educating herself and widening her experiences, she begins a relationship with a married man.
Nicholson was clearly all for the greater opportunities afforded to women in the post-WWI years. He was nearing his sixties when he wrote this and gave the impression that it was nothing so new afterall. The married man Grace falls for, Ward Trenton, certainly thought so too:
"The man who was an angel fifty years ago would probably be a perfect devil these days if he had half a chance. The world is a different place every morning; but that's only an old habit the world has. It keeps spinning a little faster all the time."
The several scenes between Grace, her puritan elder sister Ethel and snobbish but kind mother were the foundation of the story and gave ample opportunity for the author to demonstrate the superior nature of his protagonist's enlightened attitudes.
All in all the novel was a touch lightweight compared to the plodding dreariness of fellow Hoosier Theodore Dreiser but was none the worse for it. However, Nicholson did undo all the good work in the second half of the novel. Once she fell in love, Grace became a veritable sap for Trenton. The close bought about a weak contrivance of happy endings.
I tend to agree with Nicholson's attitude toward change, best summarised in this sentence:
'Were they really breaking down the old barriers? Or was the world, aided by jazz and gasoline, moving so rapidly that in the mad rush it required a more alert eye to discern the danger signs?'
The world is always speeding up but the ground never really alters. Replace jazz and gasoline for hip-hop and jet propulsion and you could say the same today.
Grace Durland is from a proud Indianapolis family hit by hard times. Having to leave college, she takes a job as a salesgirl. Intelligent, interested in educating herself and widening her experiences, she begins a relationship with a married man.
Nicholson was clearly all for the greater opportunities afforded to women in the post-WWI years. He was nearing his sixties when he wrote this and gave the impression that it was nothing so new afterall. The married man Grace falls for, Ward Trenton, certainly thought so too:
"The man who was an angel fifty years ago would probably be a perfect devil these days if he had half a chance. The world is a different place every morning; but that's only an old habit the world has. It keeps spinning a little faster all the time."
The several scenes between Grace, her puritan elder sister Ethel and snobbish but kind mother were the foundation of the story and gave ample opportunity for the author to demonstrate the superior nature of his protagonist's enlightened attitudes.
All in all the novel was a touch lightweight compared to the plodding dreariness of fellow Hoosier Theodore Dreiser but was none the worse for it. However, Nicholson did undo all the good work in the second half of the novel. Once she fell in love, Grace became a veritable sap for Trenton. The close bought about a weak contrivance of happy endings.
I tend to agree with Nicholson's attitude toward change, best summarised in this sentence:
'Were they really breaking down the old barriers? Or was the world, aided by jazz and gasoline, moving so rapidly that in the mad rush it required a more alert eye to discern the danger signs?'
The world is always speeding up but the ground never really alters. Replace jazz and gasoline for hip-hop and jet propulsion and you could say the same today.
Displaying 1 of 1 review