Caminos divergentes

Helen is about to finish high school and wants to leave her parents' struggling farm in California to find a job and earn her own income. With her strong personality, she craves independence. She has an agreement with a young man, Paul, that they will marry one day, but he also must leave the city to start working. Helen believes that if she learns telegraphy and earns some money, she can bring closer the day when she and Paul will marry. She imagines working with Paul as a married couple, but it becomes clear from the start that Paul does not like the idea of a wife working. As Helen begins to make her way in the world, she realizes that her desires are often in conflict with each other. The work is hard, but it gives her some freedom. She tries to find fulfillment in the company of her friends, who are overcoming the conservative inhibitions of the time in big cities like San Francisco. She is captivated by a charming man, Bert, who has his own ideas of what a woman should be. After marrying quickly, they find themselves in financial difficulty, and Helen realizes that she must forge her own path to maintain her independence. Helen wants marriage, a home, and children, but settling for these things would prevent her from becoming the person she truly wants to be.
Rose Wilder Lane, the daughter of author Laura Ingalls Wilder, wrote Diverging Roads as her first novel. This work of fiction reflects her own experiences as a telegraph operator, writer of advertisements and articles for newspapers and magazines, and land salesperson in Northern California. The story offers a glimpse into agricultural land, oil contracts, and difficult farming conditions along the Pacific Coast at the beginning of the 20th century.