This Proud Heart

Susan Gaylord possesses the competence expected of a devoted wife and mother, but sculpture is the work that gives structure to her inner life. Domestic skill, music and affection do not diminish the need to shape marble and clay in solitude. As her reputation develops, the concentration required by art repeatedly collides with the availability her family assumes a woman must provide without limit.

Widowhood and a second marriage alter Susan's circumstances without solving the central conflict. She must judge what can be shared, what must be protected and whether ambition necessarily injures the people she loves. Set in 1930s America, the novel examines the cultural expectation that female talent remain secondary to household service, while refusing to present either artistic independence or intimate commitment as a choice without cost.