The Fifth Wheel

The Vars Family #2

by Olive Higgins Prouty

Olive Higgins Prouty (1882-1974) was an American novelist, best known for her pioneering consideration of psychotherapy in Now, Voyager and her feminist melodrama Stella Dallas (1922). The latter was used as the basis for two successful films - the 1937 version, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, was nominated for two Academy Awards - and a radio serial which was broadcast daily for 18 years, despite Prouty's legal efforts. Prouty is also known for her philanthropic works, and for her resulting association with Sylvia Plath, whom she encountered as a result of endowing a Smith College scholarship for "promising young writers". She supported Plath financially in the wake of Plath's unsuccessful 1953 suicide attempt; subsequently, Plath used Prouty as the basis of the character of "Philomena Guinea" in her 1963 novel, The Bell Jar. In 1961, Prouty wrote her memoirs but, as her public profile had diminished, could not find a publisher; she had them printed at her own expense. She also wrote The Fifth Wheel (1915).

Genres: Classics, Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

Though Olive Higgins Prouty is primarily remembered as a romance novelist, she was also a poet, writing her poetry whenever and wherever she could. Her poems were never published during her lifetime, as they were much more intimate writings than the novels she wrote professionally. Perhaps because she could put more of herself into her poetry than in her novels, Prouty’s poems are powerful and emotional, revealing ideas radical for the time in which they were written. Her children, Richard Prouty and Jane Chapin, published her poems in a very limited release in 1997.

Prouty was born in Worcester in 1882 to Katherine Chapin and Milton Prince Higgins, who would raise one of Worcester’s most prominent, and one of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s most important, families. The Higgins family residence was at the corner of West Street and Salisbury Street, where WPI’s Goddard Hall now stands. Prouty spent most of her childhood deeply connected to WPI as her father was superintendent of the Washburn shops and supervised its very construction. Milton and Katherine Higgins had four children in total, all of whom would go on to make generous contributions to WPI, including Higgins Laboratories, Higgins House, Sanford Riley Hall, a scholarship, and a library fund. Milton Higgins was not only prominent in the development of WPI, but he was also an entrepreneur, buying the Norton Emery Wheel Co. with George Alden in 1885 and serving as its president until his death in 1912.

Prouty’s mother was also an active member of the growing Worcester community. Katherine was the superintendent of the Sunday school at the First Congregational Church and insisted upon Olive joining the church at age thirteen. Katherine was also the founder of the Parent Teachers Association, having spoken in many states for the PTA throughout her lifetime.

Prouty was close to her parents despite their busy professional lives, and speaks of her time in Worcester and at WPI with great fondness. Though she had an early interest in rhyme, Prouty did not have much early success at school, and the anxiety that resulted was a precursor to nervous troubles that would come later in her life.

Nevertheless, Olive Higgins graduated from Smith College in 1904 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and returned to Worcester determined to start a writing career. Prouty feared that her marriage to Lewis Prouty would hinder her attempts to write professionally, but Lewis turned out to be supportive and introduced Olive to the editor who would publish her first stories. The Proutys moved to Brookline, Massachusetts soon after their marriage in June, 1907.

Prouty’s first novel Bobbie, General Manager was published in 1913. She tried to keep up with her writing, but by 1920 Prouty was feeling more and more torn between her writing and her duties to her family. As the Proutys were quite prosperous, Olive had trouble balancing the social obligations that came with prosperity with her family obligations and still having time to write. When her third daughter Anne died in 1919, she decided to devote herself to the care of her children.

Prouty’s youngest daughter Olivia was very dear to her, possibly more so than her other two surviving children. In both her published and unpublished works, she rarely mentioned Richard or Jane, but she wrote quite a bit about Olivia. Olivia’s death in 1923 of encephalitis devastated Prouty, and the nervous breakdown that resulted led her to spend some time at the Riggs Foundation in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Austen Fox Riggs, encouraged her to treat her writing professionally, and Prouty was immeasurably grateful for the new freedom that afforded her.

Stella Dallas, one of Prouty’s most famous works, was published around this time. It was eventually made into a play in 1924, then a radio serial, and then its first movie incarnation in 1925. In 1937 it was remade with Barbara Stanwyck, and Be

Reviews

[John Horst · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would first like to mention that this ebook is flawlessly translated into ebook format.
Now onto the book. Although not as well-known as Stella Dallas or Now Voyager, I believe this, her second novel, is one of her strongest. The characters are real and lovable. Interestingly, Prouty changes voices, going back and forth between characters thoughout the novel. This is handled well, and not a bit distracting.
Anyone laboring under the delusion that women's rights are a product of the latter part of the twentieth century should read this story. The issues are as relevant today as they were when the story was written.
I devoured this book in one day. It is a page turner. It is as much an historical document as it is a fine work of fiction. Remember that when you read it. You are in the year 1915, not due to some fiction writer's clever treatment of historical fiction. You are in 1915 because that was when the story was written.

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The old dame could surely write. This book, a sequel to "Bobbie, General Manager," could have been either a dated weeper or a gag-me-with-a-spoon cautionary about women getting above their stations. But it was delightful if you take into account its being written before these enlightened days.
Ruth is the youngest daughter of a family whose fortune rises and falls precipitously, affecting their place in society adversely. She is somewhat spoiled, has two suitors, bounces back and forth in esidence between her older sisters and brothers.

It is much more complicated and interesting than we expect.We get to watch a real young woman develop from a self-absorbed turn of the 20th Century teenager, to a fully formed modern woman who can take on the world on her own terms and win.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Miss Ruth Vars is a spoilt young débutante whose worst moments consist of discovering she was 'down to my last clean pair of long white gloves', or having to get a taxi home from the station instead of the family limousine.

She is courted by a frivolous millionaire and a conservative-minded professor, but chooses instead to go it alone and climb her own 'mountain of Self-discovery' as it dawns on her that she is little more than a fifth wheel:

'I am not necessary to the happiness of any household.'

So what begins as the shallow story of a New England socialite and her shameless social ambition, eventually transitioned into the story of an independent young woman making her own way up from the bottom in New York.

I very nearly gave it up before the change occurred. Ultimately I was glad I didn't. When the narrative moved from the first-person to the third for half a dozen chapters, from Ruth to her sister Lucy, I started to warm to the heroine.

It was implicit from the start that she would outgrow her feather-headed beginnings, but she was so convincing at casting herself in that role, the millionaire lined up for her was such an obvious stinker, that I had no desire to find out what would become of her.

Don't get me wrong, this is hardly The House of Mirth. There is a strong streak of conservatism in Prouty, at least to a contemporary reader. She once helped the young Sylvia Plath financially, only to be lampooned by her in The Bell Jar.

Sure, her use of metaphor is more than a little strained at time, especially when used in conversation, while her heroine's feminism is diluted by the standards of the next generation, her character weak and conveniently lucky throughout the story arc.

But read in the context of its time, she has just enough to commend her.

[Gypsi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fifth Wheel (published 1915) picks up where Bobbie, General Manager ends, but with Ruth as the main character, instead of her sister Bobbie. Ruth has been trained to be a mindless debutante, but decides to try a different path and find a job in New York City.

While Ruth's story was mostly enjoyable, I found some of her adventures--and her happy ending--to be improbable. In addition, I was disconcerted by the details of events not matching between the two novels. I also grew tired of the discussions about suffrage and woman's-place, feeling that Prouty used this novel more as a platform to air opinions than to tell a story.

Despite my complaints, it was, as I said, mostly enjoyable; a quick, light read that gives an idea of what life was like during the American Gilded Age.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this novel was written years ago and will seem romantically inrealistic to most. But when read in context to the time it was written this book, ad with Prouty's other works, was far ahead of it's time. The writing itself is intelligent and expressive without melodrama or being sappy.

[Trudy]

An interesting novel first published in 1916, I think (and can be downloaded free in pdf form), which deals with what happens when a young middle class woman, short on funds, wants something more than what is expected of her: accept an advantageous marriage proposal and settle down to marital life. Taking a leap of fate, she dares to try her hand at supporting herself and finds that she likes it. Very modern for what one would expect from the era! And very readable as well. The end is somewhat disappointing from a Feminist point of view, but one has to take into account the time it was written.

[Manju · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book to read