The Miller of Old Church

The Miller of Old Church is a novel written by Ellen Glasgow, first published in 1911. The story is set in the fictional town of Old Church, Virginia, during the late 19th century. The protagonist, Ralph Treadway, is a miller who is struggling to maintain his business and provide for his family. He is married to a woman who is dissatisfied with their life and constantly berates him for not being successful enough.Ralph finds solace in his friendship with a young woman named Lucy, who is engaged to a wealthy man but is drawn to Ralph's honesty and integrity. As their friendship deepens, Ralph is forced to confront his own feelings for Lucy and the consequences of pursuing a relationship with her.The novel explores themes of class, gender roles, and the struggle for personal fulfillment in a society that values wealth and status above all else. Glasgow's vivid descriptions of the town and its inhabitants bring the setting to life, and her nuanced portrayal of the characters makes them feel like real people with complex motivations and emotions.Overall, The Miller of Old Church is a compelling and thought-provoking novel that offers a glimpse into a bygone era and the timeless struggles of the human heart.1911. Glasgow's realistic fiction novels often showed the female characters as stronger than the male characters. It was this new type of Southern fiction that made Ellen Glasgow one of the major writers of her time. The vantage point from which most of her nineteen novels were written was her native home of Richmond, Virginia. She received the Pulitzer prize in 1942. The Miller of Old Church: It was past four o'clock on a sunny October day, when a stranger, who had ridden over the corduroy road between Applegate and Old Church, dismounted near the crossroads before the small public house known to its frequenters as Bottom's Ordinary. Standing where the three roads meet at the old turnpike gate of the county, the square brick building, which had declined through several generations from a chapel into a tavern, had grown at last to resemble the smeared face of a clown under a steeple hat which was worn slightly awry. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.