Rebellion
Joseph Medill Patterson
Paperback
(CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Jan. 30, 2018)
"Rebellion" is a strong exposition of a vital problem - a problem that will make you think. As a story it is of absorbing interest; it holds you tight throughout. As a discussion of the question: "Should a woman who has divorced her husband feel free to marry again?" it treats of the most widely discussed topics of our day. Mr. Patterson handles the subject without gloves - fairly, frankly and forcefully. "Plain people and city life furnish dramatic material for 'Rebellion,' by Joseph Medill Patterson. The husband in the story becomes interested in politics, like most young men, and eventually develops as the lieutenant of the leader. By easy stages he becomes a typical ward heeler, loses his standing with the leader and at the same time develops an inordinate craving for strong drink. His wife again becomes a wage-earner. The intemperance of the husband drives the wife, though neglect and desperation, to receive, reluctantly at first, attentions from another suitor. A church's unalterable position toward divorce furnishes a theme that is hardly required to make 'Rebellion' of itself a story impressive in its human appeal. No reader can fail to appreciate the author's careful, painstaking analysis of a situation that finds many counterparts in all our great cities." -National Magazine "The story of a woman whose religious faith keeps her from the man she loves. When she comes to the determination to marry once more, although her first husband is still living, the family priest predicts disaster, while she responds that she will not regret, nor be afraid. The problems presented are those which are being widely discussed in this generation." -Publishers Weekly "A strong and just arraignment of the Roman Catholic Church and its attitude toward divorce and remarriage. The story deals with a young girl who is married to a drunkard. She is obliged to go back to work and practically support her family, but when a decent, clean man wants to marry her her church interferes and she is forced to return to her husband whom she loathes, and later a child - inheriting a weak constitution from its father - is born, only to die and create further sorrow in its mother's life. A second break with the husband is made, and, after years of struggle, nature is stronger than religion and the girl faces eternal damnation, according to her belief, secures a divorce and marries the man who has been true to her for years. The book is a page from the story of life - not ultra-fashionable life, but the life of the people which the great mass of humanity can understand and appreciate. Each side of the question is fairly set forth without prejudice, but the rebellion of the woman against the laws of her church is fully justified, and the book is the strongest argument for a sane, humane and reasonable attitude toward the question of divorce." -The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer "A clean-cut exponent of a new and popular school in American fiction. Attacking current social problems with buoyant enthusiasm and reflecting life experiences broadly and freely. It is realism suffused in earnest purpose and vitalized by imagination. There is no idle space-filling comment; every word counts as the story swings along. There are Georgia Connors in all lands, in gems and purple and fine linen, as well as the toiler's humbler garments." -The Philadelphia North American