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Terrible Virtue
In the spirit of The Paris Wife and Loving Frank , the provocative and compelling story of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the twentieth Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood—an indomitable woman who, more than any other, and at great personal cost, shaped the sexual landscape we inhabit today. The daughter of a hard-drinking, smooth-tongued free thinker and a mother worn down by thirteen children, Margaret Sanger vowed her life would be different. Trained as a nurse, she fought for social justice beside labor organizers, anarchists, socialists, and other progressives, eventually channeling her energy to one singular legalizing contraception. It was a battle that would pit her against puritanical, patriarchal lawmakers, send her to prison again and again, force her to flee to England, and ultimately change the lives of women across the country and around the world. This complex enigmatic revolutionary was at once vain and charismatic, generous and ruthless, sexually impulsive and coolly calculating—a competitive, self-centered woman who championed all women, a conflicted mother who suffered the worst tragedy a parent can experience. From opening the first illegal birth control clinic in America in 1916 through the founding of Planned Parenthood to the arrival of the Pill in the 1960s, Margaret Sanger sacrificed two husbands, three children, and scores of lovers in her fight for sexual equality and freedom. With cameos by such legendary figures as Emma Goldman, John Reed, Big Bill Haywood, H. G. Wells, and the love of Margaret’s life, Havelock Ellis, this richly imagined portrait of a larger-than-life woman is at once sympathetic to her suffering and unsparing of her faults. Deeply insightful, Terrible Virtue is Margaret Sanger’s story as she herself might have told it.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published March 22, 2016
79 people are currently reading
2193 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Feldman
23 books383 followersEllen Feldman is an American writer. She grew up in New Jersey and attended Bryn Mawr College, and graduated with B.A. and an M.A. in modern history. She also worked for a publishing firm in New York City and continued with graduate studies at Columbia University.
Feldman currently lives in New York City and East Hampton, New York.
Feldman currently lives in New York City and East Hampton, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 217 reviews
April 1, 2016
(DNF @ 25%) Another case of expectations too high and payoff too little. Fictionalized biographies can be among my favorite historical fiction, but the key is that they have to do something that a biography doesn’t do. They have to shape a story that goes beyond the chronology of what happened to whom and when. This novel about contraception activist Margaret Sanger failed to tell me anything I didn’t already know from The Birth of the Pill, a more engaging book all round. If anything this left me more confused about why Sanger consented to marriage and motherhood. These cringe-worthy lines try to explain it: “His [Bill’s] sex upended the world. His love filled the hole my childhood had carved out of me. Maybe that was the reason I married him.” (2.5)
March 3, 2016
"No woman can call herself free until she can choose when and how often she will become a mother."Margaret Sanger played an essential role in establishing access to birth control for women in the United States in the 20th century. She did so while the state's obscenity laws prohibited non-doctors from disseminating birth control information, while Anthony Comstock and the Society for the Suppression of Vice had free reign to censor materials being sent through the post office (and more! For another account of how that organization violated freedom of press, a good read is The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses), while even the President of the USA gave speeches equating childbearing with patriotism.
This novel tells the story of Margaret from teenage years up until her death. I have to admit that I am more likely to consume history in this form, and for the most part found it very readable. I felt the author shied away a bit from the juicy parts (Margaret believed in free love and had multiple relationships, was active in anarchist and communist circles, and those parts are mentioned only in passing) and overdid it on the foreshadowing. I appreciated the many historical tidbits, for instance this is the first time I've ever seen Aimee Semple McPherson presented as a villainous quack (Margaret is portrayed as being very envious of her success!) while Margaret tries to hide her involvement in Rosicrucian philosophy. I would have loved more about this part of her life - Emma Goldman runs around in the background but was crucial to her in two ways and I would have liked to see more on their friendship or mutual acquaintances. Or perhaps I have always wanted to read more about Emma.
Sanger endured jail time, court cases, even a period of exile from the United States, as she pursued her belief that women of all income levels deserved access to birth control (meaning: not just the wealthy.) The controversy has lived longer than she has! Even now, the first page of Google results are still half factual biographical information and half websites linking her (and by association, Planned Parenthood) with racist eugenic policy making. The author attempts to address the common criticisms of Sanger by having her defend them in her voice, but I am not sure that works well in the flow of the story (and is one place I would have appreciated a historical treatment to get all the information.) There are also periodic moments where other characters are given a voice through letters they've written to Margaret, usually in the tone of "this is how you wronged me." I appreciated multiple perspectives but they did not ring as true as Margaret's voice.
I received a copy of this from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
June 22, 2022
“No woman can call herself free until she can choose when and how often she will become a mother.”
I knew a little bit about Margaret Sanger before I read this book. I knew that she was an advocate of birth control when birth control for women was hard to come by. She is also considered the founder of Planned Parenthood, which is under siege right now, as are all women’s reproductive rights. So I thought this would be a good time to read this book.
While growing up, Margaret Higgins was a palled at how constant childbearing wore down her mother, who had 13 children, 11 of home lived. Her father was a ne’er-do-well who enjoyed treating his friends to a good meal rather than feed his family. Margaret eventually escaped to go to nursing school and committed herself to helping women control their own fertility. She was a great believer in free love but for some unfathomable reason married Bill Sanger who apparently provided excellent sex. She and Bill had three children: Stuart, Grant, and Peggy. Although she loved her children, her cause for promoting birth control came first. She published a magazine, The Woman Rebel, and eventually was arrested for sending pornography through the mail. She fled to England where she pursued her research and studies while waiting for the furor of her arrest to calm down, which it did. (Mainstream publications were now offering advice on birth control.) She opted for a 30 day jail sentence instead of a fine. She was later arrested for operating a birth control clinic with no doctor on staff, since only doctors could prescribe birth control. (Birth control in those days consisted of condoms, sponges and diaphragms.) Her sister Ethel was also arrested, and staged a hunger strike which almost killed her. Margaret was found guilty again, and again opted for 30 days in jail.
Margaret again through herself fully into her cause sacrificing her marriage and her children in order to educate the public about birth control for women. She wrote books and traveled around the country constantly. She and Bill eventually divorced. But Margaret was certainly not at a loss for sex. She pretty much slept with any man she came into contact with. And the book spends a lot of time covering her sexual exploits. At times it was TMI. Although she said she didn’t believe in marriage and she certainly didn’t believe in monogamy she married a second time to a very wealthy man who may or may not have been aware of her extraneous activities in the bedroom.
Although I have a great deal of admiration for Margaret Sanger and her dedication to the cause of making birth control available to all women rich and poor, I can’t say I liked her as a person. The author put it best in her essay at the end of the book:
“How do you bring to life a woman who was at once selfish and altruistic; loyal and ruthless; arrogant and insecure; devoted to improving the lot of all women and fiercely competitive with other women; determined to expose societies hypocrisies and a maker of her own myths; a breaker of sexual taboos who somehow managed to maintain a spotless public persona; a woman who married twice, but didn’t believe in marriage, and had countless affairs to prove it; a mother who loved her children but was hopeless at caring for them, and endured the worst heartbreak a parent can know?”
It is hard to read a book about a person who you don’t particularly like, and apparently it was hard for the author to write the book for the same reason: it took her 10 years and many starts and stops to create this book. The one thing I took away from it was that regardless of her personal failings and idiosyncrasies, all women today are beholden to Margaret Sanger for our easy and legal access to birth control (at least for now…there are movements afoot to try to reign in our reproductive freedoms, including contraception!) I was lucky to come of age in the 70s, when The Pill was available and marriage was not a requirement for obtaining contraception.
I recommend this book with a caveat: if you can get past her unlikablility, Margaret Sanger’s story is a worthwhile read.
I knew a little bit about Margaret Sanger before I read this book. I knew that she was an advocate of birth control when birth control for women was hard to come by. She is also considered the founder of Planned Parenthood, which is under siege right now, as are all women’s reproductive rights. So I thought this would be a good time to read this book.
While growing up, Margaret Higgins was a palled at how constant childbearing wore down her mother, who had 13 children, 11 of home lived. Her father was a ne’er-do-well who enjoyed treating his friends to a good meal rather than feed his family. Margaret eventually escaped to go to nursing school and committed herself to helping women control their own fertility. She was a great believer in free love but for some unfathomable reason married Bill Sanger who apparently provided excellent sex. She and Bill had three children: Stuart, Grant, and Peggy. Although she loved her children, her cause for promoting birth control came first. She published a magazine, The Woman Rebel, and eventually was arrested for sending pornography through the mail. She fled to England where she pursued her research and studies while waiting for the furor of her arrest to calm down, which it did. (Mainstream publications were now offering advice on birth control.) She opted for a 30 day jail sentence instead of a fine. She was later arrested for operating a birth control clinic with no doctor on staff, since only doctors could prescribe birth control. (Birth control in those days consisted of condoms, sponges and diaphragms.) Her sister Ethel was also arrested, and staged a hunger strike which almost killed her. Margaret was found guilty again, and again opted for 30 days in jail.
Margaret again through herself fully into her cause sacrificing her marriage and her children in order to educate the public about birth control for women. She wrote books and traveled around the country constantly. She and Bill eventually divorced. But Margaret was certainly not at a loss for sex. She pretty much slept with any man she came into contact with. And the book spends a lot of time covering her sexual exploits. At times it was TMI. Although she said she didn’t believe in marriage and she certainly didn’t believe in monogamy she married a second time to a very wealthy man who may or may not have been aware of her extraneous activities in the bedroom.
Although I have a great deal of admiration for Margaret Sanger and her dedication to the cause of making birth control available to all women rich and poor, I can’t say I liked her as a person. The author put it best in her essay at the end of the book:
“How do you bring to life a woman who was at once selfish and altruistic; loyal and ruthless; arrogant and insecure; devoted to improving the lot of all women and fiercely competitive with other women; determined to expose societies hypocrisies and a maker of her own myths; a breaker of sexual taboos who somehow managed to maintain a spotless public persona; a woman who married twice, but didn’t believe in marriage, and had countless affairs to prove it; a mother who loved her children but was hopeless at caring for them, and endured the worst heartbreak a parent can know?”
It is hard to read a book about a person who you don’t particularly like, and apparently it was hard for the author to write the book for the same reason: it took her 10 years and many starts and stops to create this book. The one thing I took away from it was that regardless of her personal failings and idiosyncrasies, all women today are beholden to Margaret Sanger for our easy and legal access to birth control (at least for now…there are movements afoot to try to reign in our reproductive freedoms, including contraception!) I was lucky to come of age in the 70s, when The Pill was available and marriage was not a requirement for obtaining contraception.
I recommend this book with a caveat: if you can get past her unlikablility, Margaret Sanger’s story is a worthwhile read.
November 9, 2016
While I knew of Margaret Sanger, I didn't know many of the details of her life. This book brings Sanger to life, showing her drive and her passion. It covers her entire life, yet I never felt like it skirted much. It was an insightful look at what life was like for women, what the freethinking community was like, and the challenges Sanger encountered as she paved the way for women.
September 14, 2015
Thanks Edelweiss for this arc.
I didn't know a lot about Margaret Sanger befor this reading this novel, but now I will definitely tell my daughter about her when she gets older. We forget about the woman who suffered so we can have freedom of choices and that needs to change.
I didn't know a lot about Margaret Sanger befor this reading this novel, but now I will definitely tell my daughter about her when she gets older. We forget about the woman who suffered so we can have freedom of choices and that needs to change.
March 11, 2016
Two words describe Ellen Feldman’s historical fiction novel about Margaret Sanger: Relevant and controversial. Margaret Sanger fought a fight for the good of downtrodden women, all the while leading a personal life open to question.
It is well known that American women had few rights in 1900. Because of social convention, fears of pregnancy hovered over them like dark clouds. Margaret Sanger, intent on improving her own position in society, and mourning the state of her own mother (who gave birth to thirteen children paying for it with her health), eventually devoted herself to the cause of legalizing contraception. Eager to bettering lives of women faced with unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and shame, she played a pivotal role in legalizing birth control for women. Her mission: To give women of all economic levels access to birth control in the United States. This trailblazer was accused of muddying the waters and met opposition by:
• Imprisonment
• Court cases
• Exile to England
• Journalistic censure
In Sanger’s voice, Feldman addresses the common criticisms leveled against the feminist and mother of the birth control movement. She focuses a lens on Margaret Sanger’s enigmatic personal life. Sanger, one of thirteen siblings, mourned her mother’s premature death. The daughter of an alcoholic father, she married with trepidation. A trained nurse, she suffered from tuberculosis. Frightened of the responsibility, Sanger became a wife and mother. She broke sexual taboos and struggled with family responsibility. She triumphed in the establishment of Planned Parenthood, but sacrificed her family. Her life ended in heartbreak and isolation.
Historically accurate, the book hinges on a first person narrative by Sanger, which downplays the events surrounding the birth control movement in favor of her own personal agenda. Pocket narratives by her children and husbands fill in detail. If the reader can move past Sanger’s self-focused aggrandizement, he will cheer, chide and salute the strides made for the female sex. On the cusp of Planned Parenthood’s centennial in October 2016, Miss Feldman successfully navigates the controversy over the pioneer who sacrificed personally for the good of all women.
The title stems from a Margaret Sanger quote from 1914:
“It is only rebel woman, when she gets out of the habits imposed on her by bourgeois convention, who can do some deed of terrible virtue.”
I thank Harper Collins for the advance readers copy.
It is well known that American women had few rights in 1900. Because of social convention, fears of pregnancy hovered over them like dark clouds. Margaret Sanger, intent on improving her own position in society, and mourning the state of her own mother (who gave birth to thirteen children paying for it with her health), eventually devoted herself to the cause of legalizing contraception. Eager to bettering lives of women faced with unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and shame, she played a pivotal role in legalizing birth control for women. Her mission: To give women of all economic levels access to birth control in the United States. This trailblazer was accused of muddying the waters and met opposition by:
• Imprisonment
• Court cases
• Exile to England
• Journalistic censure
In Sanger’s voice, Feldman addresses the common criticisms leveled against the feminist and mother of the birth control movement. She focuses a lens on Margaret Sanger’s enigmatic personal life. Sanger, one of thirteen siblings, mourned her mother’s premature death. The daughter of an alcoholic father, she married with trepidation. A trained nurse, she suffered from tuberculosis. Frightened of the responsibility, Sanger became a wife and mother. She broke sexual taboos and struggled with family responsibility. She triumphed in the establishment of Planned Parenthood, but sacrificed her family. Her life ended in heartbreak and isolation.
Historically accurate, the book hinges on a first person narrative by Sanger, which downplays the events surrounding the birth control movement in favor of her own personal agenda. Pocket narratives by her children and husbands fill in detail. If the reader can move past Sanger’s self-focused aggrandizement, he will cheer, chide and salute the strides made for the female sex. On the cusp of Planned Parenthood’s centennial in October 2016, Miss Feldman successfully navigates the controversy over the pioneer who sacrificed personally for the good of all women.
The title stems from a Margaret Sanger quote from 1914:
“It is only rebel woman, when she gets out of the habits imposed on her by bourgeois convention, who can do some deed of terrible virtue.”
I thank Harper Collins for the advance readers copy.
November 30, 2015
Margaret Sanger has influenced the lives of millions of women. Most of us know the name, but possibly little else. Ellen Feldman recreates Sanger's life and times in a fictionalized biography that shows Sanger in a sympathetic light, but introduces voices that offer competing interpretations of Sanger's personality and behavior. What seems unquestionable is Sanger's courage and determination. A very timely subject and engagingly written.
July 15, 2016
Margaret Sanger had a rough childhood; born in 1879, as one of eleven children. Her miserable mother and drunk father had little to share amongst their many children. The older girls escaped as quickly as possible and Margaret tended to many of the younger ones. With a sharp eye and quick wit Margaret found herself wanting more than the average woman and she refused to believe this was not possible. As she grew both in age and maturity, Margaret married and became a mother to her own three children. She had a lifelong love of learning and thirst for freedom and equality that often could not be quenched. While rebels and socialists fought for rights and the vote, Margaret’s part time nursing position brought her to the tenements along New York’s lower east side. While her political friends held dinners where they discussed world views and downed champagne, Margaret climbed the stairwells of decrepit buildings where dreams were crushed and women were dying. These women asked – no, they begged - Margaret for a way to stop having more babies. There were no alternatives for these women and no restraints for these men they were married to. Margaret spent her entire adult life fighting to establish birth control and planned parenthood. She was an outspoken character that was said to embellish the facts but much of what she fought for changed the lives of innumerable women. We are still fighting for these rights. These legal rights that are made by men. Do I have to tell you this is a must read? Author Ellen Feldman narrates this easy to follow story, the life of a woman that to this day continues to reach out to us. Read it and decide for yourself, but please read it.
Read
May 17, 2018I was looking for a book to read for Women’s History Month and this title stood out. Learning it was about Margaret Sanger, I immediately resolved to read this. Margaret Sanger is someone I have always wanted to know more about. There is controversy around her, yet her life work left one of the most important legacies for women. She devoted herself to earning women the legal right over their own bodies and reproductive decisions. Ironically, her own children lacked her attention, as she traveled around to change the world. Author Ellen Feldman gives a very fascinating and accurate account of Sanger’s life, as she consulted the Margaret Sanger Papers Project and Sanger’s own grandson. I was surprised at the depth Feldman gave Sanger, even with her flaws. A great book club choice. Readers may also like “Loving Frank”. A good companion to “Red Clocks” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”. -Lisanne E
March 23, 2016
Summary: This was a fascinating story, but given that it was fictionalized, I'd particularly have liked to feel more of an emotional connection.
This is the "story of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the twentieth century: Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood—an indomitable woman who, more than any other, and at great personal cost, shaped the sexual landscape we inhabit today. This complex enigmatic revolutionary was at once vain and charismatic, generous and ruthless, sexually impulsive and coolly calculating—a competitive, self-centered woman who championed all women, a conflicted mother who suffered the worst tragedy a parent can experience." (Source)
I was intrigued by this book because of both the description of Margaret Sanger's complicated personality and because of the historical significance of her life. The book delivered on both counts. Margaret Sanger's work, her personal motivation, and the change she helped facilitate were the centerpiece of this book. Although I can't speak to the accuracy of any aspect of this fictionalized account of her life, the author certainly presented many perspectives on Margaret Sanger's life and personality as well. Unfortunately, the way these other perspectives were injected into the story was one of my least favorite parts of the book. Random sections broke from the mostly third person description of Margaret's story, with commentary on her life written as though a family member or acquaintance was talking to Margaret. I found these sections disruptive.
I found the story hard to emotionally connect with because of these disruptions and for two other reasons as well. First, the author skipped almost all the most important moments in Margaret's life. At the times when Margaret would be expected to be most emotional, we only heard about events after the fact. Secondly, the author didn't include much speculation about Margaret's emotions. In a nonfiction account, I'd be prefer that. At the point an author has gone to the trouble of making things up, I'd like some made up emotions to make the story read like engaging fiction. In my ARC, I was double annoyed because there was no note letting us know what was fictional about the account. This meant that I got neither the emotional engagement of fiction nor the education of nonfiction.
Despite spending a long time outlining my one complaint - lack of emotional engagement - I did enjoy this book overall. Although I'm not going to rave about it and push it on you, if you're at all interested in the topic, I would recommend giving this a chance. I think this would pair very well with some nonfiction to help you determine what parts of this book are fact or fiction.
For some other perspectives, check out the other stops on the tour.
This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
This is the "story of one of the most fascinating and influential figures of the twentieth century: Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood—an indomitable woman who, more than any other, and at great personal cost, shaped the sexual landscape we inhabit today. This complex enigmatic revolutionary was at once vain and charismatic, generous and ruthless, sexually impulsive and coolly calculating—a competitive, self-centered woman who championed all women, a conflicted mother who suffered the worst tragedy a parent can experience." (Source)
I was intrigued by this book because of both the description of Margaret Sanger's complicated personality and because of the historical significance of her life. The book delivered on both counts. Margaret Sanger's work, her personal motivation, and the change she helped facilitate were the centerpiece of this book. Although I can't speak to the accuracy of any aspect of this fictionalized account of her life, the author certainly presented many perspectives on Margaret Sanger's life and personality as well. Unfortunately, the way these other perspectives were injected into the story was one of my least favorite parts of the book. Random sections broke from the mostly third person description of Margaret's story, with commentary on her life written as though a family member or acquaintance was talking to Margaret. I found these sections disruptive.
I found the story hard to emotionally connect with because of these disruptions and for two other reasons as well. First, the author skipped almost all the most important moments in Margaret's life. At the times when Margaret would be expected to be most emotional, we only heard about events after the fact. Secondly, the author didn't include much speculation about Margaret's emotions. In a nonfiction account, I'd be prefer that. At the point an author has gone to the trouble of making things up, I'd like some made up emotions to make the story read like engaging fiction. In my ARC, I was double annoyed because there was no note letting us know what was fictional about the account. This meant that I got neither the emotional engagement of fiction nor the education of nonfiction.
Despite spending a long time outlining my one complaint - lack of emotional engagement - I did enjoy this book overall. Although I'm not going to rave about it and push it on you, if you're at all interested in the topic, I would recommend giving this a chance. I think this would pair very well with some nonfiction to help you determine what parts of this book are fact or fiction.
For some other perspectives, check out the other stops on the tour.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey
April 1, 2016
There has been a recent trend of historical novels featuring women many of us don't know much about. Paula McLain's The Paris Wife about Hadley Hemingway, Ernest's first wife, began the trend a few years ago, and some more recent ones include McLain's Circling the Sun (about aviatrix Beryl Markham) and a book I recently loved and reviewed The First Daughter, about Thomas' Jefferson's daughter Patsy. (My review here)
Ellen Feldman's Terrible Virtue tells the story of Margaret Sanger, widely regarded as the woman who helped bring about birth control education for women and the founder of Planned Parenthood. I didn't know much about Sanger, so I was curious to read more about her.
Sanger's mother had thirteen children and her father was an alcoholic who fancied himself a socialist atheist philosopher. Sanger watched her mother give birth year after year and become a shell of a woman, worn out by caring for so many children without any help from her husband.
Margaret was intelligent and thanks to her older sisters who raised enough money, she was able to attend nursing school. She also became passionate about social justice, as well as men. She had relationships with many men and believed in free love.
Yet she married Bill Sanger and they had three children- two sons and daughter named Peggy. Peggy was diagnosed with polio, a diagnosis Margaret disagreed with, and she refused to let her daughter wear a leg brace.
One day Margaret was asked to speak to some women about health issues, and she began to talk about contraception, which was a forbidden topic at the time. Women were hungry for more information and soon Margaret's talks drew more and more women.
She also drew attention from authorities and Margaret was arrested. Margaret fled the country for Europe, leaving behind her family. When she eventually returned, she devoted so much of her time and energy to the issue of contraception and women's health that her relationship with her husband and children suffered.
The story is told from Margaret's point of view, with some characters- her husband, her son, her sister, her lawyer and others in her life- telling their story in small doses. I think the novel may have been stronger if we heard more of their voices.
It was difficult for me to completely empathize with Margaret. She is, to say the least, a very complicated character. She was a pioneer in women's health, and her determination to help women understand and have access to contraception changed the world for women. So many poor women were trapped, forced year after year to have babies because contraception was not available to them.
But she wasn't a good mother or wife. It's one thing to say that her husband knew what he was getting into with Margaret and her extramarital affairs, but her children didn't deserve to have an absentee mother. They were sent a boarding school that was horrible, and at the end of her life, I wonder how much she regretted not having a better relationship with them.
I recommend Terrible Virtue as it brings to light how difficult life was for women because they didn't have any control over basic health care regarding contraception. The world changed dramatically for women once this happened, and Margaret Sanger was the one who changed it.
Ellen Feldman's Terrible Virtue tells the story of Margaret Sanger, widely regarded as the woman who helped bring about birth control education for women and the founder of Planned Parenthood. I didn't know much about Sanger, so I was curious to read more about her.
Sanger's mother had thirteen children and her father was an alcoholic who fancied himself a socialist atheist philosopher. Sanger watched her mother give birth year after year and become a shell of a woman, worn out by caring for so many children without any help from her husband.
Margaret was intelligent and thanks to her older sisters who raised enough money, she was able to attend nursing school. She also became passionate about social justice, as well as men. She had relationships with many men and believed in free love.
Yet she married Bill Sanger and they had three children- two sons and daughter named Peggy. Peggy was diagnosed with polio, a diagnosis Margaret disagreed with, and she refused to let her daughter wear a leg brace.
One day Margaret was asked to speak to some women about health issues, and she began to talk about contraception, which was a forbidden topic at the time. Women were hungry for more information and soon Margaret's talks drew more and more women.
She also drew attention from authorities and Margaret was arrested. Margaret fled the country for Europe, leaving behind her family. When she eventually returned, she devoted so much of her time and energy to the issue of contraception and women's health that her relationship with her husband and children suffered.
The story is told from Margaret's point of view, with some characters- her husband, her son, her sister, her lawyer and others in her life- telling their story in small doses. I think the novel may have been stronger if we heard more of their voices.
It was difficult for me to completely empathize with Margaret. She is, to say the least, a very complicated character. She was a pioneer in women's health, and her determination to help women understand and have access to contraception changed the world for women. So many poor women were trapped, forced year after year to have babies because contraception was not available to them.
But she wasn't a good mother or wife. It's one thing to say that her husband knew what he was getting into with Margaret and her extramarital affairs, but her children didn't deserve to have an absentee mother. They were sent a boarding school that was horrible, and at the end of her life, I wonder how much she regretted not having a better relationship with them.
I recommend Terrible Virtue as it brings to light how difficult life was for women because they didn't have any control over basic health care regarding contraception. The world changed dramatically for women once this happened, and Margaret Sanger was the one who changed it.
February 17, 2016
I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel from HarperCollins.
Told in the first person, this novel follows the life of Margaret Sanger, who worked tirelessly throughout the early twentieth century to give women access to reproductive rights. Indeed, it was Margaret Sanger who first coined the term "birth control," because she believed every woman had a right to control when and how many times she would call herself a mother. This novel opens with young Margaret living in abject poverty, watching her mother slowly killed by pregnancy after pregnancy. This childhood would shape her views and lead her to fight tirelessly, even in the face of criminal charges and neglect of her own children so that no woman would have to watch her children go hungry and her own body waste away, because she had no way of preventing an annual pregnancy.
The novel makes it very clear that its narrator Margaret is a feminist and a liberal; "We were committed to sexual equality. We believed that women as well as men had the right, the duty, to use their God-given bodies as well as men had the right, the duty, to use their God-given bodies to live as fully as possible" (46). Although it seems as if many of her social aims were admirable and well-intentioned, she also seems to have alienated and angered many. This is conveyed through the use of letters addressed to Margaret interspersed throughout the text, written by those that knew her. For instance, one colleague writes to her saying, "You needed followers and admirers. No, more than that, you needed lackeys and sycophants. And you had them in droves, though I will never understand the spell you cast" (210). She is also critical of Margaret taking all the credit herself, saying, "To hear you tell it, Margaret Sanger created the birth control movement as single-handedly as the Lord created the universe" (210).Margaret comes across as less than a likeable character.
However, aside from disliking the narrator, my main complaint with this book was it relied far more on the narrator providing a litany of her life events than it did on action. It felt as if the author had done immense research on the historical figure of Margaret Sanger and then attempted to weave too much historical fact into a novel. For instance, upon meeting Havelock Ellis, the narrator says, "Later, when he would erase my name from his autobiography for fear of offending his wife [...]" (120). At times I wondered why the author didn't just write a biography rather than awkwardly having her narrator tell the reader extraneous facts throughout this novel. Because of its reliance on telling rather than show, this novel functions more as a fictional autobiography than a novel about a historical character.
Although Margaret Sanger is to be lauded for her accomplishments and I appreciated learning more about her through this novel, the style of its narration ultimately prevented me from fully enjoying this book.
Told in the first person, this novel follows the life of Margaret Sanger, who worked tirelessly throughout the early twentieth century to give women access to reproductive rights. Indeed, it was Margaret Sanger who first coined the term "birth control," because she believed every woman had a right to control when and how many times she would call herself a mother. This novel opens with young Margaret living in abject poverty, watching her mother slowly killed by pregnancy after pregnancy. This childhood would shape her views and lead her to fight tirelessly, even in the face of criminal charges and neglect of her own children so that no woman would have to watch her children go hungry and her own body waste away, because she had no way of preventing an annual pregnancy.
The novel makes it very clear that its narrator Margaret is a feminist and a liberal; "We were committed to sexual equality. We believed that women as well as men had the right, the duty, to use their God-given bodies as well as men had the right, the duty, to use their God-given bodies to live as fully as possible" (46). Although it seems as if many of her social aims were admirable and well-intentioned, she also seems to have alienated and angered many. This is conveyed through the use of letters addressed to Margaret interspersed throughout the text, written by those that knew her. For instance, one colleague writes to her saying, "You needed followers and admirers. No, more than that, you needed lackeys and sycophants. And you had them in droves, though I will never understand the spell you cast" (210). She is also critical of Margaret taking all the credit herself, saying, "To hear you tell it, Margaret Sanger created the birth control movement as single-handedly as the Lord created the universe" (210).Margaret comes across as less than a likeable character.
However, aside from disliking the narrator, my main complaint with this book was it relied far more on the narrator providing a litany of her life events than it did on action. It felt as if the author had done immense research on the historical figure of Margaret Sanger and then attempted to weave too much historical fact into a novel. For instance, upon meeting Havelock Ellis, the narrator says, "Later, when he would erase my name from his autobiography for fear of offending his wife [...]" (120). At times I wondered why the author didn't just write a biography rather than awkwardly having her narrator tell the reader extraneous facts throughout this novel. Because of its reliance on telling rather than show, this novel functions more as a fictional autobiography than a novel about a historical character.
Although Margaret Sanger is to be lauded for her accomplishments and I appreciated learning more about her through this novel, the style of its narration ultimately prevented me from fully enjoying this book.
April 6, 2016
3.5 Stars
I'd like to send a big thank you to the author, as well as to the publisher Harper Collins and TLC book tours for giving me opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Terrible Virtue is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Margaret Sanger, a woman who advocated for birth control in a climate that was definitely not friendly to the idea of women being in control of their bodies and futures. Since this is historical fiction, not everything in this book is going to be solidly factual but I did feel as though it read much more like a memoir than historical fiction which is something I ended up enjoying because I do enjoy reading books of that genre.
I am new to Margaret Sanger and I consider myself to be pretty new as well, to feminist literature both fiction and nonfiction. I am wanting to expand my reading of feminist literature so when presented with the chance to read this book, I had to and was really excited to read it. It was an interesting and light read although there were areas that I wished we were given more detail on. I am not super familiar with the life of Margaret Sanger so I'm not sure what in this book is factual and what is not but I do believe that it gave me a good idea of her life, what she advocated for and what she went through because of her beliefs and her conviction. I do think that she is someone who is important in the feminist movement but I found it hard to really connect with her I think because we are shown both sides of her life - Margaret the Revolutionary and Margaret the mother. She was human and this book definitely showed that but if anything, I really really felt for her children and obviously I felt for all of the women she was fighting for. It just shows how much she sacrificed in order to research and fight for her cause.
I am giving this book 3.5 stars because I did like it, I enjoyed reading it and felt like I did learn a bit about Margaret Sanger. This book actually makes me pretty interested in learning more about her and the topic of the history of birth control. I definitely recommend reading this if you are looking to read more feminist literature or learn a little bit about the climate Margaret Sanger was operating in or even to learn a little about her life.
I'd like to send a big thank you to the author, as well as to the publisher Harper Collins and TLC book tours for giving me opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Terrible Virtue is a work of historical fiction based on the life of Margaret Sanger, a woman who advocated for birth control in a climate that was definitely not friendly to the idea of women being in control of their bodies and futures. Since this is historical fiction, not everything in this book is going to be solidly factual but I did feel as though it read much more like a memoir than historical fiction which is something I ended up enjoying because I do enjoy reading books of that genre.
I am new to Margaret Sanger and I consider myself to be pretty new as well, to feminist literature both fiction and nonfiction. I am wanting to expand my reading of feminist literature so when presented with the chance to read this book, I had to and was really excited to read it. It was an interesting and light read although there were areas that I wished we were given more detail on. I am not super familiar with the life of Margaret Sanger so I'm not sure what in this book is factual and what is not but I do believe that it gave me a good idea of her life, what she advocated for and what she went through because of her beliefs and her conviction. I do think that she is someone who is important in the feminist movement but I found it hard to really connect with her I think because we are shown both sides of her life - Margaret the Revolutionary and Margaret the mother. She was human and this book definitely showed that but if anything, I really really felt for her children and obviously I felt for all of the women she was fighting for. It just shows how much she sacrificed in order to research and fight for her cause.
I am giving this book 3.5 stars because I did like it, I enjoyed reading it and felt like I did learn a bit about Margaret Sanger. This book actually makes me pretty interested in learning more about her and the topic of the history of birth control. I definitely recommend reading this if you are looking to read more feminist literature or learn a little bit about the climate Margaret Sanger was operating in or even to learn a little about her life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 23, 2016
Get to know Margaret Sanger
I've long enjoyed the historical legacies of Margaret Sanger, and I bet you have, too - but you may not have known it. She came of age many years before women even won the right to vote - but the lack of that great gift did not stop her from making her voice heard both here at home in the US and, really, all around the world. It was Sanger, you see, who led the way in helping women gain agency and power over their own bodies. She worked relentlessly her entire adult life to ensure that ALL women (not just the rich) learned how their bodies worked (many had little to no knowledge of reproduction), how sex led to pregnancy, and how to prevent pregnancy with contraceptives. For millions of impoverished wives and mothers, gaining access to this information and to birth control options literally saved their lives and helped make life better for the children to whom they did give birth. Although she died not long before the Pill was introduced in the United States, she did live to see her once radical ideas and activities embraced by women (and men) across the country. She also opened the first clinic specifically dedicated to women's health - and that clinic became the first Planned Parenthood! Her dedication to the goal of helping women take care of their bodies and their sexual health continues to live in in a very real way; for many millions of women, PP is the only place to find affordable and frank medical care!
Sanger's work, however, came at a terrible cost both to her and to those who loved her most, and this is where Feldman's book, which is a fictionalized account of Sanger's life told in from Sanger's own (imagined) perspective. She offers up a complex, driven, admirable - and yet deeply flawed - personality throughout the novel, and although it is fiction, Feldman clearly has done thorough and painstaking research. She brings not only Margaret to life for us, but also some of the great intellectuals and activists of the era, and
I've long enjoyed the historical legacies of Margaret Sanger, and I bet you have, too - but you may not have known it. She came of age many years before women even won the right to vote - but the lack of that great gift did not stop her from making her voice heard both here at home in the US and, really, all around the world. It was Sanger, you see, who led the way in helping women gain agency and power over their own bodies. She worked relentlessly her entire adult life to ensure that ALL women (not just the rich) learned how their bodies worked (many had little to no knowledge of reproduction), how sex led to pregnancy, and how to prevent pregnancy with contraceptives. For millions of impoverished wives and mothers, gaining access to this information and to birth control options literally saved their lives and helped make life better for the children to whom they did give birth. Although she died not long before the Pill was introduced in the United States, she did live to see her once radical ideas and activities embraced by women (and men) across the country. She also opened the first clinic specifically dedicated to women's health - and that clinic became the first Planned Parenthood! Her dedication to the goal of helping women take care of their bodies and their sexual health continues to live in in a very real way; for many millions of women, PP is the only place to find affordable and frank medical care!
Sanger's work, however, came at a terrible cost both to her and to those who loved her most, and this is where Feldman's book, which is a fictionalized account of Sanger's life told in from Sanger's own (imagined) perspective. She offers up a complex, driven, admirable - and yet deeply flawed - personality throughout the novel, and although it is fiction, Feldman clearly has done thorough and painstaking research. She brings not only Margaret to life for us, but also some of the great intellectuals and activists of the era, and
February 6, 2017
"A woman's duty: To look the whole world in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, to have an ideal, to speak and act in defiance of convention."
And that is what Margaret Sanger did. She looked everyone in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, and she spoken and acted in defiance of convention. Having watched her mother die older before her time, having raised 13 children, lost about 5, Margaret both loved and hated her mother. She loved her mother yet was disgusted with what her mother was, with what she let herself be: a broodmare...a baby incubator.
This novel is told in the first person, as though Margaret is looking back on her years and her life, her goals, trials, losses, loves. Personally, I loved it. First-person writing can make or break a book. In this case, it worked. The writing was engrossing; the memories were vivid. I never felt as though they were being narrated to me, but that I was living them myself.
I went with her from being called a devil's child and falling over her feet in the woods to her first marriage and the birth of her three children and the battles she fought inside herself between what she should want (what society told her she should want...a loving husband, a nice house, three adorable children) and what she really wanted (free love with whomever she pleased, a basic place in the middle of artists and socialists, and her main child: the birth control movement.
Full review is on my blog. You didn't think I was done yet, did you? http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2017/...
And that is what Margaret Sanger did. She looked everyone in the face with a go-to-hell look in her eyes, and she spoken and acted in defiance of convention. Having watched her mother die older before her time, having raised 13 children, lost about 5, Margaret both loved and hated her mother. She loved her mother yet was disgusted with what her mother was, with what she let herself be: a broodmare...a baby incubator.
This novel is told in the first person, as though Margaret is looking back on her years and her life, her goals, trials, losses, loves. Personally, I loved it. First-person writing can make or break a book. In this case, it worked. The writing was engrossing; the memories were vivid. I never felt as though they were being narrated to me, but that I was living them myself.
I went with her from being called a devil's child and falling over her feet in the woods to her first marriage and the birth of her three children and the battles she fought inside herself between what she should want (what society told her she should want...a loving husband, a nice house, three adorable children) and what she really wanted (free love with whomever she pleased, a basic place in the middle of artists and socialists, and her main child: the birth control movement.
Full review is on my blog. You didn't think I was done yet, did you? http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2017/...
November 19, 2016
An interesting fictional account of the life of Margaret Sanger. A controversial woman who had ideas about women having control over their bodies. She is the mother of birth control. Her life was one of huge professional success, but very little personal success.
Her ideas have lead to what we now know as Planned Parenthood, and the services that many women to rely on. But her personal life was a shambles. Because of her traveling, her children basically grew up without a mother. She married, and numerous extra-marital affairs, and abandoned her family in the United States, because she was facing a trial.
A courageous woman, with faults and frailties, who was able to save countless women's lives. I think if I want to read more about Margaret Sanger, I'll read a biography.
Her ideas have lead to what we now know as Planned Parenthood, and the services that many women to rely on. But her personal life was a shambles. Because of her traveling, her children basically grew up without a mother. She married, and numerous extra-marital affairs, and abandoned her family in the United States, because she was facing a trial.
A courageous woman, with faults and frailties, who was able to save countless women's lives. I think if I want to read more about Margaret Sanger, I'll read a biography.
November 2, 2024
Terrible Virtue, by Ellen Feldman, is one of the most directly relevant pieces of historical fiction I’ve read in a long time. I can usually find connections between the news and what I’ve been reading; it’s how my brain works. But I genuinely hope that Terrible Virtue gets a lot of attention when it comes out next month. Feldman’s book is a fictional account of the life and work of birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.
May 30, 2016
Margaret Sanger with all her warts. She was basically all warts: a eugenicist who wanted to reduce the population of Negroes, Jews, and other immigrants; a woman who took credit for what others did; a terrible mother who was responsible for the early death of her little girl; pathologically promiscuous. She campaigned to provide information to women about birth control primarily because that's the issue that happened by when she wanted most to undertake a crusade so as to become famous. A depressing story.
October 24, 2017
I had no idea that I had checked out a fictional telling of Margaret Sanger’s life. I’m not sure how much of what I learned is true, but I learned A LOT. That woman was a ahead of her time. Her polyamorous lifestyle is still regarded as fringe today, so perhaps we haven’t caught up with her yet. Her disinclination to marry, at a time when marriage gave things to the husband and took them away from the wife, and her self-education on reproduction and female bodies, as well as her activism, make her a good candidate for resurrection today. I feel a Margaret Sanger movie on the horizon...
April 25, 2016
I'm so conflicted about this story. It's well written and vivid historical fiction, but the subject of the story, infamous Margaret Sanger, doesn't sit well with my conscience. I have no doubts that the birth control movement would not be what it was without her work, I feel as though, even though she had a generally good reason to start down this road (family planning), her actually personality and actions speak to someone selfish and emotionless.
May 5, 2017
Interesting perspective on Margaret Sanger, birth control crusader and the founder of Planned Parenthood, who was a much more colorful figure than previously presented - a committed socialist and a bit of a "free love" advocate, twice married and the mother of 3 children. This book is being made into a movie that will hopefully capture the many facets of this complex and important person.
December 6, 2016
Wonderful historical fiction about Margaret Sanger, who championed birth control when it was not even allowed to be mentioned in private, public or by doctors. What a role model for us to learn from and admire.
September 14, 2017
Very well written book. I learned a lot about Margaret Sanger and her character was well developed.
My thought about the subject - when you have a passion driving you, at what cost to your own life and family's life is it worth? It is a tough answer!!
My thought about the subject - when you have a passion driving you, at what cost to your own life and family's life is it worth? It is a tough answer!!
January 12, 2017
Excellent read!!!!!
November 7, 2017
Interesting novelization of the life of Margaret Sanger, which certainly piqued my interest in her life. Founder of clinics for women, leader in the birth control movement, and free love advocate, Margaret was a brave woman. I struggled with the format of the book, though. Many chapters ended with a figure central to the story writing a letter slamming Sanger's life. While I found it hard to understand why she treated her children the way she did, and some of her other choices, this format made the book seem like a tawdry "tell all" approach to the life of a woman who led a crusade for women's rights.
Read
February 17, 2017 I read this book because I wanted to find out how Feldman approached Margaret Sanger. I also thought that a book about her presents an opportunity to discuss some difficult issues in my review.
Sources that I've previously encountered dealing with Margaret Sanger didn't emphasize her Socialist Party membership and involvement in the Socialist community. I thought this aspect of Terrible Virtue was particularly significant especially given charges that she was right wing due to her support for eugenics later in her life.
Feldman portrays Sanger as latching on to eugenics because of its popularity. I don't think that this is a persuasive defense of Sanger. It was inevitable that the eugenics paradigm would discredit Sanger and her movement. She should have seen its implications and stayed far away from it.
Feldman's biographical novel reminds me that she was a flawed human being who made mistakes in her life. Yet we mustn't forget her accomplishments. Sanger was still a great feminist fore-mother. Women's options would have remained constricted without birth control. We must continue to fight to preserve that freedom.
For my complete review see http://shomeretmasked.blogspot.com/20...
Sources that I've previously encountered dealing with Margaret Sanger didn't emphasize her Socialist Party membership and involvement in the Socialist community. I thought this aspect of Terrible Virtue was particularly significant especially given charges that she was right wing due to her support for eugenics later in her life.
Feldman portrays Sanger as latching on to eugenics because of its popularity. I don't think that this is a persuasive defense of Sanger. It was inevitable that the eugenics paradigm would discredit Sanger and her movement. She should have seen its implications and stayed far away from it.
Feldman's biographical novel reminds me that she was a flawed human being who made mistakes in her life. Yet we mustn't forget her accomplishments. Sanger was still a great feminist fore-mother. Women's options would have remained constricted without birth control. We must continue to fight to preserve that freedom.
For my complete review see http://shomeretmasked.blogspot.com/20...
April 16, 2016
This gave a very good look at the woman who worked so hard to make birth control information available to everyone. Because it was fiction, the author could take some liberties and I loved the way she wrote of young Margaret, one of a family of 13 children, seeing a wealthy and seemingly carefree family of just two children. "The sight of that perfect quartet who had never scrapped for food or love or attention, who had never been humiliated before an entire class, who had never felt ashamed of anything, reached out and grabbed me like an arresting officer." The older Margaret later met women in the tenements of early 20th century New York who had 8, 10, or more children and who begged her to tell them how to stop having babies. The older Margaret is the Margaret of the history books. What most of us who have heard of Margaret Sanger don't know about is her personal life. Years of research into contraception. Arrest. Exile. Infidelities. And what affected me the most was reading about the toll this took on her husband and three children. The book is written in the first person, Margaret Sanger's voice, but sprinkled throughout are notes of a few lines to several paragraphs in the voices of her children, her sister, her husbands, which give added dimension to just who Margaret Sanger was.
July 25, 2022
Having read and loved the author’s other two books — Loving Frank and The Paris Wife— I was looking forward to enjoying this one on Margaret Sanger as well. And Ellen Feldman didn’t disappoint. Within the context of the current political movement to again chain women to their biology, this is an absolutely essential read! Like the early suffragettes who sacrificed their health, their family life, their social status, their physical bodies, Margaret Sanger did for women’s control over their bodies and health what Susan B Anthony and others did for women’s right to vote. That Sanger was so disparaged toward the end of her life as Hitler rose to power and she was inextricably (and grossly unfairly) linked to the eugenics movement is truly a disgrace, and Feldman’s attempts here to set the record straight are admirable—and a crucially important reminder of the context in which the later years of Sanger’s work flourished. As a student of feminist studies I personally loved the insight into other major players of the socialist, communist, and women’s movements early in the 1900…. Emma Goldman, John Reed, Alice Paul, Big Bill Haywood. A wonderful history lesson of what it has taken to win the freedoms we now have and why it’s so important to keep fighting for those we recently lost and are still in danger of losing!
March 31, 2016
For me, reading Terrible Virtue was like watching a fine one-woman play. With the skill of an accomplished actor, Ellen Feldman first inhabits her subjects, then tells their story from the inside out. Terrible Virtue exposes Margaret Sanger's personal and very public struggles to free women from their endless cycles of childbearing and poverty. In the early 1900s Sanger advocated birth control at a time when the subject was forbidden by law. She and the women of her movement were ridiculed, abused and even jailed for suggesting that women had the right to choose. Remarkably, their struggles continue to this day. This is an excellent and timely book.
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