Maggie of Louisburg Square

In Boston in the early part of the twentieth century a young woman, Maggie McLaughlin, is caught between the reality of her humble birth and her desire to succeed in a cultured world. At the same time, a young man, Hugh Brent, is caught between his lofty society upbringing and his attraction to the young woman. The road to the fulfillment of Maggie's wish is opened up when a bargain with Hugh Brent allows her to attend Mt. Holyoke College. A huge turn in Hugh Brent's life takes place when he goes against his family and wealthy fiancée's wishes and instead of joining his father's lucrative business firm, studies medicine. Hugh's ideas are altered by a brush with death, and his eyes are further opened when, as a doctor, he goes to France, is submerged in the horrors of W.W. I, and is eventually seriously wounded. Maggie is now a librarian and while working hard for the war effort, waits for Hugh to return from the war, clinging to the unrealistic hope that he will marry her. The story is one of complex characters and the struggle between hope and apparent reality.