The Flapper Wife

    The story begins as twenty-year-old Gloria is getting married to thirty-year-old Dick Gregory. Gloria, unsure what love is, doesn't believe she loves Dick but she does care for him and falsely believes that he's a wealthy lawyer. He is a lawyer but has just started his career meaning he wont be making the type of income Gloria yearns for for 10-15 years yet. Dick however loves Gloria, happily spoiling her and putting up with her emotional outburst to get her way.

    After returning from the honeymoon Gloria gets word that Stanley Wayburn is in town. Gloria had had a love affair with the small time actor last summer when he was in town performing in a play. Although she wanted to marry him Stan had no interest in committing to Gloria and the day he left town with the show he didn't even tell her goodbye. It was soon after this heartbreak that Gloria met Dick.

    Tempted beyond resistance Gloria goes the the theater to see Stan perform. The two reunite and quickly restart their love affair but the same problem persists of Stan having no interest in commitment.

    Gloria soon finds herself becoming more and more depressed with life. She is committed to a man she doesn't love, unable to have the man she does love, her mother-in-law constantly demeans and insults her for not keeping home, and her husband is constantly telling her of their fastly dwindling finances due to her spending habits. It doesn't help her that her husband is not stupid and knows there is something happening between Gloria and Stanley although to what extent he can only guess.

    On a rainy day when Gloria picks up Stan for their usual secret drives out into the country Stan is drunk and as he tries to aggressively "make love" to Gloria she fights him off which causes her to crash her car quite badly. Stan reports her unconscious body laying in the muddy road and then flees to New York with money he has borrowed from her.

    After recovering from her broken collar bone and numerous bruises Dick invites Gloria to take a trip to the mountains with him. He's been ordered by a doctor to take a restful trip to help recuperate after a bad case of pneumonia and thinks Gloria could use such a trip after her car accident. However when Dick tells her his mother is coming along Gloria gives him an ultimatum; either his mother doesn't go or she won't. To her surprise Dick chooses his mother so on the same day that the two leave Gloria boards a train to New York, leaving a letter for Dick saying she wont be coming back. 

    Once in the city Gloria heads to Stan's boarding house but he is not happy to see her. The two have a bad fight which leads to Gloria smashing a framed picture of Sonya, a fellow actor who Stan has reassured Gloria for months that he doesn't have a romantic interest in. Stan responds by laughingly telling Gloria he married Sonya yesterday. He admits that he used Gloria for cheap thrills and degrades her about cheating on her husband with him. She heads back to her hotel hurt but determined to get a job on Broadway and make a name for herself.

    Despite being the prettiest girl in her hometown Gloria struggles to find any stage work and after fighting off a sexual assault from a producer she returns home defeated and longing for her husband.

    Dick accepts her back into their house but not into his heart. Young Gloria soon realizes her constant yearning for Dick while she was in New York and her overwhelming jealousy of Miss Briggs, his secretary who is openly in love with him, mean that she is in love with Dick. However regardless of Gloria's open affections to Dick he keeps her at an arms distance.

    Determined to win back his heart Gloria works hard to learn to cook and keep house, even becoming willing to have children, something she had previously stated was out of the question. Despite these efforts Dick keeps himself emotionally shut off from her and continues to do so even when Gloria literally gets on her knees multiple times to beg Dick to treat her properly. Dick says it's because the situation with Stanley is stuck between them but when Gloria brings up Dick's refusal to fire his lovesick secretary, he brushes it off as nothing.

    After trying all she can and being rejected by her husband over and over Gloria moves back to her parents home and Dick does the same. Dick places their house for sale and promises to support Gloria financially but after she receives her first check from him she returns it and goes back to work as a typist.

    After several weeks Gloria is homesick for her own house and realizes she shouldn't have to give up her home just because her and Dick have separated. She moves back in and on impulse calls him. He misses her call but it gets relayed to him and, after weeks apart, he struggles to not go back to her. Seeing he isn't going to truly separate from his wife, Miss Briggs quits her job which leaves both her and Stanley in the past and Gloria and Dick happily reunite.

- Who is the villain of the story? Is there one? On the surface it appears it is suppose to be Gloria, that her "modern living" is destroying an innocent man who simply loves her but I'm not sure if that is how it is suppose to be. Gloria is extremely likeable. Her selfishness seems to simply come from the fact that Dick, in his desire to posses her (and sleep with her, in my opinion) has spoiled her and given her the impression he can provide her with a life that he can not actually afford. Why did he not explain to her his financial standing before marriage instead of giving her a gorgeous ring, having a house custom built, paying for her furnish it to her liking, and taking her on a glamourous honeymoon before telling her they now have to live a frugal life. 

    When they met Gloria was working as a typist, a profession that she is especially skilled at, and holding out for a wealthy husband. And her desire for a wealthy husband is not at all shallow. She has watched her parents work themselves ill to maintain the basics of life and she doesn't want to struggle that way. People can judge but it is her life and she has a right to choose if she wants to marry for love or money. The fact that Dick is so much older than her and essentially fools her into marriage makes it even more disgusting. Especially considering Dick did not even bother to get to know his wife before trapping her.

    For example Dick smokes. When Gloria grabs one of his cigarettes from the pack and asks for a light he responds by ripping it from her mouth, throwing it in the garbage can, and demanding "how long have you had this rotten habit?". Gloria tells him two or three years and is surprised he didn't know. Dick doesn't know his wife because all he cared was that she had a pretty face and he wanted to sleep with her.

- Gloria's best friend is a woman named May who is married to Dick's friend Dr. John. It is at a party of May's that Gloria and Dick meet. Dr. John puts all his time into his work and ignores May's needs for companionship. He doesn't spend time with his wife, take her out, attend social functions with her, etc. So May attends functions with her friend named Jim, and yes the are just friends. However the town gossips and Dr. John not only orders May to not speak or see Jim but to spend her time at home, alone in a big house. When May doesn't do this Dr. John takes his own life. Everyone blames May for "driving him to it" but all I could see it as is that Dr. John would rather kill himself than spend time with his wife. 

- Dick's coldness to Gloria and refusal to communicate is just childish and gross. It really feels like Dick enjoys degrading Gloria and making her beg him for his love just to then reject her. By the end of the book I couldn't stand him.

    If it weren't for the sexism I would give this book a perfect rating. It was constantly moving, enthralling, and I honestly couldn't put it down. Despite seeming to have an outdated, sexist message Gloria and May drop some amazing quotes that could certainly be labeled as feminist. To be honest the sexism is written in such a comically extreme way that it almost feels like Beatrice Burton was trying to make a mockery of it. 

    Burton was a talented writer and so it's very lucky for us that there is a sequel to this book. It's called Footloose and it follows May after she leaves town a widow. If you're able to laugh off the ridiculous parts about a women's supposed role in life then I would highly recommend this.  

Kim Fashions A Career

     Kim Merriman has just completed her second year of college when her father has a sudden stroke. In order to help him take time to recover Kim leaves school temporarily to get a job. Although she dreams of working as a buyer at department store the only offer she receives is as a stockroom girl. She accepts the job planning to quickly work her way up to the position she wants.

    Kim soon makes friends with her fellow coworkers including Francesca, a beautiful girls who dreams of being a model, and Dave, a night school attendee who is full of wisdom and good advice. Kim is fascinated by the department store and begins learning the ins and outs but despite her devotion to her job she can't help but miss college. Especially when she goes on dates with her sorta-boyfriend Gary who is always caught up in college/fraternity events. 

    Kim only plans on missing a semester of school but when her father decides to open an art gallery instead of going back to work Kim signs on to her job full time. Dave encourages Kim to attend night school but Kim insists she wants to go to "real college", especially since Annette, her rival for Gary's heart, has just transferred to Gary's school.

    Kim, eager to get ahead, propositions Melva Dorn, the fashion buyer, for a position as her assistant. Her boldness pays off and she gets a part time position as her assistant. Kim uses this opportunity to show off her fashion skills and learns some hard lessons about speaking up.

    When Christmas time comes around Kim attends a party at Gary's fraternity. When she learns the party-goers intend to steal Christmas displays from the department stores Kim realizes how much she has outgrown her old crowd and Gary. She decides to enroll in night school and give her heart to Dave.

- Kim is so unlikeable! She is spoiled, snobby, and self centered. She also seems impossible to get along with yet she thinks it's everyone else's fault.

- Kim is shocked anytime a coworker uses their employee discount to buy something for a friend and even refers to Cheri as "committing a crime" when she does it.

- It ended very abruptly. Kim decides to go to night school and realizes she likes Dave on the last pages. I thought the story was building up to Kim actually going to night school where she would do actual personal growth so when it ended without that happening it was very disappointing and made the book feel like a build up to nothing.

(I read this book on Archive.org via their lending library which is where the image comes from.)

Veil of Sand

    After her boyfriend leaves her for another woman young redheaded Nola decides to find a job which will take her far away from the city and that happens to be a job as assistant park ranger out in the isolated California desert. The head ranger, Vance Fletcher, is not happy to see that a woman has been hired for the job but as the park is understaffed he gives Nola a chance. However his wife Carobeth is ecstatic to have another women out in the lonely desert. Besides the couple and their three little boys, assistant ranger Miguel is the only other person in the vicinity.

    On her first day of duty Nola is tasked with checking on all the park campsites. While she drives on the long stretches of road she notices smoke from a fire in the distance. Knowing that desert campfires are illegal, and wanting to show Vance she is eager to do a good job, she foolishly takes the park jeep off road into the desert sand. The smoke is farther than she had anticipated and after a substantial distance into the desert the jeep gets stuck. Nola sets out on foot determined to complete her goal but again misjudges the distance.

    Exhausted and thirsty Nola finally comes upon the smoke and sees it's coming from a chimney of an old shack. The inhabitant being a handsome man with a red beard that she had seen walking along the road the day of her arrival. He gets her some water, chides her for her foolishness, and introduces himself as Todd Marshal, a painter. He helps Nola get the jeep unstuck and she leaves with a crush on him.

    Back at the park headquarters Vance has been struggling with two problems: the poaching of the local big horn sheep and a persistent grass fire threatening to destroy the sheep's grazing land. Could the latter be a intentional cover for the former? Nola is worried that Todd Marshall could be involved in the poaching but decides to keep her suspicious to herself until she can get to know him better.

    While working in the park office one day a gorgeous woman named Erin Marshal comes in looking for Todd and Nola's heart breaks to think that Todd is married. However clearly Todd did not tell Erin his location, could that mean they're separated?

    Upon her next visit to the old shack Nola doesn't get around to inquiring about Todd's relationship statues and when he embraces and kisses her Nola is in heaven. That is until she remembers Erin, at which point she shoves Todd back and declares her hate for him as she runs off.

    One day Nola is tasked with collecting the camping fees from the different park campgrounds. As she approaches a luxury RV at one, the door is open and she sees Todd and Erin inside hugging. Instantly in tears she flees with Todd rushing after her.

    She gets on her mule, which Vance gave her in place of the jeep after the incident, and rides off into the desert directionless. Once she calms herself she realizes she has no idea where she is, she has no compass, and almost no water. She wanders with the mule, sharing what little water she has left before resting in the shadow of a bolder. Exhausted she falls asleep and awakes to find her mule has wandered off out of sight. Trying not to panic she begins walking in the hopes that she can make it to Todd's shack. A storm has been hanging in the distance and Nola barely scrambles out of a canyon before being drowned in a flash flood.

    Nola is relieved when she sees someone in the distance and frantically calls to them but as she runs closer she sees a shot big horn sheep at his feet; he's the poacher. Or rather one of them and his partner soon appears from behind a bolder.

    The two men discuss murdering Nola but when a torrent of rain begins to fall they grab her and run for cover in the old shack. The two go inside while leaving Nola on the patio at which time she manages to sneakily toss her red handkerchief on top of the roof, a signal for the search and rescue team who will be looking for her.

    Once the rain lets up the two, whose discussion has turned to whispers, force Nola into the shack when suddenly the sound of a helicopter is heard. The men position themselves under a window with their single gun drawn and don't notice when Nola slips out the other window.

    Todd, who was in the helicopter along with Vance and an officer, grabs Nola and pulls her to safety while the poachers are arrested. Nola confronts Todd about Erin and he informs her Erin is his sister. The two decide to marry. The end.

- Nola has no business being a park ranger. Multiple times she gets emotional and runs off into the desert aimlessly. And despite always barely escaping danger she keeps doing it.

- Nola's ex boyfriend, the one she's leaving the city over, turns out to be the head of the poachers and Erin was the woman he left Nola for. I thought this was rather stupid. The guy was just some dumb up-and-coming real estate agent that Nola did all the work for and now he's suddenly involved in big time poaching so far from home? Nah, I don't buy it.

- It was obvious Erin was Todd's sister, such a cliché but I can't be mad. After all this is a 100-something page book published by Avalon, the company that pumped them out as fast as they could write them. I didn't expect this to be a classic that is studied in high school lit classes century from now. And that's why...

    I don't think it was that bad. Like most Avalon books I was eager to keep reading and find out what happens. I probably won't remember it as anything special but it certainly kept me entertained.

    (I read this book from Archive's lending library which is where the picture for this post comes from, albeit with a little editing.)