Martie, the Unconquered

Martie Monroe has dreams too big for her small California town. In 1917, when a woman's choices were narrow and expectations were rigid, Martie refuses to surrender the fight for herself, not for the society that dismisses her, not for the class system that measures her worth in dollars, not even for the charming Rodney Parker, whose attention ignites both hope and jealousy in equal measure. Kathleen Thompson Norris, one of the most popular American novelists of her era, writes with sharp-eyed compassion about the battles women fought just to claim their own lives: the battle against poverty's sting, against the suffocating kindness of family who meant well, against the quiet violence of being told your desires are too much. Through her complicated friendship with the wealthy Rose and her own tumultuous heart, Martie discovers that freedom isn't given, it's taken, piece by piece, through choices that cost everything.