Master of Men

"Master of Men" by E. Phillips Oppenheim is a story set in the early 1900s about a mechanic and inventor, Enoch Strone, who yearns for a better life and finds himself drawn to Lady Malingcourt, a woman from a different social class. The book looks at ambition, social class, and tricky relationships as Strone tries to navigate his personal and professional life. It opens with Strone in the countryside weighing his working-class background against the upper-class world of Lady Malingcourt. Their meeting sparks a complex admiration since he is attracted to her but knows their statuses are different. As Strone's success grows, the story suggests conflict between his dreams and his past, mainly regarding his wife, Milly, setting up a potential clash of love, responsibility, and finding oneself.