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.
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