One Woman's Life

"One Woman's Life" by Robert Herrick is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story is centered around Milly Ridge, a young girl navigating her adolescence and social ambitions in late 19th century Chicago. As she grapples with her family's unstable circumstances after her mother's death, Milly's aspirations grow increasingly focused on achieving a more refined social status, which leads her on a journey of self-discovery and the pursuit of love. The opening of the book introduces Milly as she arrives at her new home on West Laurence Avenue in Chicago, expressing disappointment at the dingy surroundings that starkly contrast her idealized expectations of a proper home. At just sixteen, Milly's fiery spirit and desire for a better life are evident as she rebels against her grandmother's disapproving authority and struggles to accept her family's new status. The narrative highlights her conflicting feelings about home, identity, and social aspiration, setting the stage for her future endeavors and relationships as she seeks to elevate her standing in society. The reader is drawn into Milly's world of youthful ambition, personal challenges, and the complexities of growing up amid societal pressures. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Robert Welch Herrick was a novelist who was part of a new generation of American realists. His novels deal with the turbulence of industrialized society and the turmoil it can create in sensitive, isolated people. He was also briefly acting-Governor of the United States Virgin Islands in 1935.