The Sturdy Oak

In the spring of 1916, as the workers for woman suffrage were laying plans for another attack on the bastions of male supremacy, the idea for The Sturdy Oak was born. A satiric look at the gender roles of the time, this composite novel was based on the rules of an old parlor game, in which one person begins a narrative, another continues it, and another picks it up. In this case, leading writers of the day - Fannie Hurst, Dorothy Canfield, and Kathleen Norris among them - took up their pens. Much of The Sturdy Oak reflects the New York campaign for suffrage of 1916-17. The story takes place in a small, conservative community in upstate New York. George Remington, a cautious young lawyer running for office, and his new wife, Genevieve, who becomes converted to the suffrage cause, do not fit the picture of the traditional couple: "the sturdy oak" supporting "the clinging vine." Caught up in the swirling political currents of the day, their marriage, his career, their families, their community - the very foundations of their society - are threatened.