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Mary Donovan
Mary Donovan is one of those rare people whom each of us has the privilege of knowing—and loving—at least once in our lives. This is her story. It is also the story of an American family and an American town during years that are fresh in the memories of us all. Mary was the only daughter of old J. R. Kent, the town's most prominent citizen, an honorable man whose family had been revered for generations. Tom Donovan was the new salesman in J. R.'s real estate office. Quite by accident he met his employer's daughter one spring day. And that spring they fell in love.
Tom Donovan had spent a few wild years with a group of rebellious writers and painters, but he didn't tell Mary much about his past. Someday he said he would write a book that would explain it all to Mary—that would explain a background and a bringing-up so far removed from Mary Kent's with its good living, rich heritage and strong family feeling.
In the first years of their marriage, Mary and Tom found laughter and companionship and soaring happiness. All too soon, however, Tom began to feel oppressed by the weight of a tradition and a way of life he could not really understand. The demands of his position became a burden, and he bitterly resented the responsibilities of fatherhood. He could not understand Mary's love for their home and their children. And he became dissatisfied with the life of a business man. A writer at heart, he longed for the old freedom he had known in his "bohemian" days.
To Mary Donovan, her husband, her home, and her children were all part of a whole—a whole which she cherished with all her being. She had fought for her marriage with Tom—and she was prepared to fight to make that marriage what it should be. This is the story of Mary Donovan's battle: her fight to preserve a home, her struggle to give her children security in the present and hope for the future. This is the story, too, of a love so strong that it survived heartbreaking emotional ordeals and real disasters.
Tom Donovan had spent a few wild years with a group of rebellious writers and painters, but he didn't tell Mary much about his past. Someday he said he would write a book that would explain it all to Mary—that would explain a background and a bringing-up so far removed from Mary Kent's with its good living, rich heritage and strong family feeling.
In the first years of their marriage, Mary and Tom found laughter and companionship and soaring happiness. All too soon, however, Tom began to feel oppressed by the weight of a tradition and a way of life he could not really understand. The demands of his position became a burden, and he bitterly resented the responsibilities of fatherhood. He could not understand Mary's love for their home and their children. And he became dissatisfied with the life of a business man. A writer at heart, he longed for the old freedom he had known in his "bohemian" days.
To Mary Donovan, her husband, her home, and her children were all part of a whole—a whole which she cherished with all her being. She had fought for her marriage with Tom—and she was prepared to fight to make that marriage what it should be. This is the story of Mary Donovan's battle: her fight to preserve a home, her struggle to give her children security in the present and hope for the future. This is the story, too, of a love so strong that it survived heartbreaking emotional ordeals and real disasters.
319 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1948
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November 27, 2020
This is a volume from my old books collection published in the early 1940s. This book felt a lot more modern than a lot of the older books I read; the premise is that a happy young woman (Mary) marries an artistic-orphaned-wild-baby-hating guy (Tom) at a time when he's trying to fit himself into respectable society. But of course that doesn't last, and poor Mary is stuck with him all her life. I didn't enjoy the first 2/3 of this book, to be honest, because Tom put Mary through too much. However, as I came to the end, I was satisfied because the book became a testament to Mary's strong character. It was interesting to see the choices she made in the face of some very hard things. I love character-driven books so this one ended up working for me in the end. Content: there are definitely some adult themes as well as a little language.
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