Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of A Modern Instance

A Modern Instance
A Modern Instance
Author: William Dean Howells
Book Type: Paperback
Kmarie avatar reviewed on + 529 more book reviews


A classic book. Set in rural New England, Boston and the Middle West, his portrayal of the America of his day is a triumph of accurate reportage coupled with novelistic air. Originally published in 1882.
A young woman named Marcia Gaylor, abandoned by her husband, contests his divorce petition. Howells's 1882 novel represents one of the earliest treatments of divorce in American literature.