The Velvet Hammer

by Faith Baldwin

product_description

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Faith Baldwin attended private academies and finishing schools, and in 1914-16 she lived in Dresden, Germany. She married Hugh H. Cuthrell in 1920, and the next year she published her first novel, Mavis of Green Hill. Although she often claimed she did not care for authorship, her steady stream of books belies that claim; over the next 56 years she published more than 85 books, more than 60 of them novels with such titles as Those Difficult Years (1925), The Office Wife (1930), Babs and Mary Lou (1931), District Nurse (1932), Manhattan Nights (1937), and He Married a Doctor (1944). Her last completed novel, Adam's Eden, appeared in 1977.

Typically, a Faith Baldwin book presents a highly simplified version of life among the wealthy. No matter what the difficulties, honour and goodness triumph, and hero and heroine are united. Evil, depravity, poverty, and sex found no place in her work, which she explicitly intended for the housewife and the working girl. The popularity of her writing was enormous. In 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, she published five novels in magazine serial form and three earlier serials in volume form and saw four of her works made into motion pictures, for an income that year in excess of $315,000. She also wrote innumerable stories, articles, and newspaper columns, no less ephemeral than the novels.

Reviews

[Ceejay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad that I "discovered" Faith Baldwin. When I want to read a book about adults facing adult problems, I know I can count on Ms. Baldwin's novels to provide me with a great plot, and an entertaining read. If I want some melodrama (picture Hollywood's black and white films from a bygone era), I can read her novels from the 1930's, 40's and 50's. If I want less melo, and more drama, I can read her novels from the 1960's and 70's. This particular story is centered on a young Vietnam war widow, with a child her husband never saw, who is thrown into the clutches of a controlling mother-in-law. Great stuff, and a perfect plot for Faith Baldwin.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Faith Baldwin rarely disappoints readers. While this book is somewhat dated (I think the copyright is 1969), the story is well-crafted and a wonderful array of characters.

[Dianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to find this 1960s hardcover in my neighborhood Little Free Library. I recognized the author because I own and enjoyed reading two of her books from the 1930s.

Baldwin seems to enjoy writing about youngish, strong, career women. In this case, a strong-minded older woman is added to the mixture as well.

It's well written and I enjoyed it although it was light on plot. (Plot in a nutshell: Young pregnant widow goes to live with mother-in-law she had never met, has baby, wants to get remarried, mother-in-law has opinions.)

Content: Some swearing (very mild by today's standards), a bit of nonspecific talk about sex in general (very 1960s, ha ha).