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Life in the Iron Mills

Rebecca Harding Davis

Book Overview: 

The first novella by Rebecca Harding Davis: writer, social reformer, and pioneer of literary realism. It tells the story of Hugh Wolfe, a Welsh laborer in an iron mill who is also a talented sculptor, and of Deborah, the hunchbacked woman who unrequitedly loves him.

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .Come near to the fire,"—said one of the men, approaching to scrape away the ashes.

She shook her head. Wolfe had forgotten her. He turned, hearing the man, and came closer.

"I did no' think; gi' me my supper, woman."

She watched him eat with a painful eagerness. With a woman's quick instinct, she saw that he was not hungry,—was eating to please her. Her pale, watery eyes began to gather a strange light.

"Is't good, Hugh? T' ale was a bit sour, I feared."

"No, good enough." He hesitated a moment. "Ye're tired, poor lass! Bide here till I go. Lay down there on that heap of ash, and go to sleep."

He threw her an old coat for a pillow, and turned to his work. The heap was the refuse of the burnt iron, and was not a hard bed; the half-smothered warmth, too, penetrated her limbs, dulling their pain and cold shiver.

Miserable enough she looked, lying there on the ashes like a limp, dirty r. . . Read More

Community Reviews

I never knew Rebecca Harding Davis was from Southwestern Penna., so this is a nice surprise on a few levels. I highly recommend this short stroy. It's easy to get through, somewhat surprisingly (perhaps because of the approach the author takes to telling this story). I found this story really moving

I love the narrative technique used in this short story / novella. Interesting commentary on the "hunger" of the artist.

ETA: Also, the tension between realism and romanticism is great to read. And the symbolism. The symbolism is off the charts; my brain almost exploded geeking out over it.

I wrote a

A fabulous and vastly ignored book.

boringggggg. i mean if emily dickinson liked it it's probs good but def not for me. i'm sure it had a good message at the time and was very powerful but it was too long for a short story and boring. maybe i just hate classic literature.

Finals have descended upon me and here I am catching up before my American Lit final on Monday. Don't judge me

This was really important for the day and says really important things about class and gender and disability. But it's also really drawn out, over-explains and is very on-the-nose. I didn't

See my review of Hazard of New Fortunes... Similar subject matter, without the shallow resentment directed towards the financially well off. This book depicts the less fortunate with genuine sympathy, while also asking questions that transcend social class, such as how one can find fulfillment in a

A short story/novella that does a great job exposing the injustices suffered by iron mill workers in the nineteenth century. Rebecca Harding Davis's commitment to realism tears away any romanticized notions of these laborers' awful working conditions. She incorporates several intriguing ideas into h

School read. One passage made me cry. I may just be crying from exhaustion at this point, though.
Yay for Davis being ahead of her time with the whole Realism thing.
Super heavy-handed and didactic. A little Dickensian, now that I think about it.
Lot of Biblical and color imagery.
Didn't love it. Didn

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