This pulp classic of motherhood and money introduced the immortal character portrayed on film by Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Midler—“a feminist gem” (Michael Bronski).
An ambitious woman from working-class roots, Stella sets her sights on marrying rich—and hits a bullseye. But her unshakable crudeness becomes too much for her husband. When he leaves her, she keeps their daughter Laurel. And now Stella sets her sights one again—this time, on giving her daughter the life she could never achieve for herself.
Originally published in 1923, this epic tale inspired the first radio soap opera, a Broadway play, and multiple films, including the Oscar-nominated 1937 movie starring Barbara Stanwyck and the 1990 movie Stella starring Bette Midler. Stella Dallas is a razor-sharp critique of our societal obsession with the judgment of mothers, offering cultural commentary that is still shockingly relevant nearly one hundred years after its initial publication.
"Under Olive Higgins Prouty's genteel prose beats a heart of expertly observed class analysis and steely eyed depictions of women-mothers, daughters, and wives-in American society...
Stella Dallas is a feminist gem of tough but compassionate realism." -
Michael Bronski, author of A Queer History of the United States"You can't understand the dynamics of mother blaming that seeps through pop culture without this wrenching novel. Read it and weep-literally!" -
Jamie Babbit, director of But I'm a Cheerleader"One of the most entertaining, excellently sustained and consistently developed novels of the season." -
New York Times"Mrs. Prouty has triumphed with her Stella Dallas. She has revealed a rich and deep understanding of human weaknesses and shortcomings." -
NY World"One does not have the good fortune to encounter many times in a season so sound a novel as Mrs. Prouty's
Stella Dallas... It has a simple but deeply moving narrative. It portrays several characters with an understanding and sympathy that is so human that we seem to have walked their path with them." -
Boston Transcript
