His Family

HIS FAMILY
by Ernest Poole

 Award: Pulitzer Winner 1918

 Dates Read: October 25, 2006 & June 6, 2017

 His Family has the distinction of being the very first novel to win the Pulitzer in 1918 and the earliest novel of this entire project. When I first began this project, I didn't enjoy the novels from the very early years but they have grown on me so much that I now find them to be my favorite. His Family is yet another that I enjoyed so much I read it twice.

His Family begins in 1913 with Roger Gale, a New York businessman and a widower, reflecting on the changes that have come to New York since his arrival in the city as a young man. Driven by his wife's dying request to remain close to their three daughters, Edith, Deborah and Laura, he maintains close relations with all three. Edith is married with four children. Deborah is a school principal and lives at home, as does Laura. Laura suddenly announces her engagement to Hal Sloane, a young businessman who is unknown to the family and Edith's fifth child arrives weeks before his due date. After the baby's birth and Laura's wedding, Roger's concerns turn to Deborah, who works constantly. Roger is prejudiced against the immigrant families Deborah works with, but a visit to Deborah's school changes his perspective. He takes a crippled Irish boy named John into his care, providing him with lodging and a job in Roger's business. Deborah, whose suitor Allan Baird, a doctor and friend of the family, seems to be giving up hope of marriage. Roger conspires with his daughter Edith and her husband Bruce to pressure Deborah, and she eventually accepts Allan's proposal. Before the wedding, however, Edith's husband Bruce is struck by a taxi and dies, causing Edith and her children to return to the family home, until Roger arranges for their return to New Hampshire and the family farm.

Deborah's wedding to Allan is further delayed due to the onset of WWI and the subsequent decline of Roger's business. He can barely support the family. Laura returns suddenly to the house, telling Deborah that she has fallen in love with Hal’s business partner, and Hal intends to divorce her. Laura ultimately divorces and elopes with her lover. As their money troubles worsen, tensions increase between Deborah and Edith over money: Deborah raises large amounts of money for "her family" of tenement schoolchildren, and Edith feels it's wrong of her not to devote her energies to the care of her niece and nephews. When Roger learns that Deborah has ended her engagement to Allan Baird, he intervenes, informing her that he is fatally ill and intends to sell the family home, and pleads with her to make a life for herself beyond her school. Deborah agrees to marry Allan and Roger’s business and home are saved by John, the Irish boy who works for him, when he discovers a new source of clients. Roger lives out the end of his days watching Deborah and Allan settle down happily together and have their first child. Roger dies feeling finally connected to his family, as his wife had hoped.

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