Unleavened Bread

"Unleavened Bread" by Robert Grant is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story revolves around Selma White, a young schoolteacher navigating her path in a rapidly changing American society, following her marriage to Lewis Babcock, a varnish manufacturer. The narrative explores themes of personal development, ambition, and the evolving role of women during a time of social transformation. The opening of the novel introduces Selma and Babcock as they depart from a wedding, setting the stage for their developing relationship. Selma reflects on her previous life and the constraints she feels from her small-town upbringing and societal expectations, contrasting her aspirations of achieving something greater in a burgeoning city like Benham. Babcock, on the other hand, is portrayed as a devoted husband who yearns for Selma's affection while harboring dreams of a prosperous future. Their early interactions signal Selma's ambivalence toward traditional domestic roles and foreshadow the complexities of her character as she grapples with her desires for independence and influence in a changing world. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 68.9 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read. Originally issued 2005-01-10. Transcribed by E-text prepared by Audrey Longhurst, Amy Cunningham, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This work is in the public domain in the United States. Sourced from Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14645).