Unleavened Bread

"Unleavened Bread" by Robert Grant is a story set at the start of the 1900s about a young teacher named Selma White, who marries Lewis Babcock, a varnish maker, as she tries to find her place in a transforming America. It's a story about growing as a person, wanting more out of life, and how women's roles were changing during this time. The book starts with Selma and Lewis leaving a wedding, which starts their relationship. Selma thinks about her life before and how she felt trapped by her small town and what people expected of her, because she wants to do big things in a growing city. Lewis is shown as a caring husband who wants Selma to love him and also wants to be successful. Their first interactions suggest that Selma doesn't really want to be a traditional wife, and it hints at how complicated she is as she struggles with wanting to be independent and have power in a world that's changing.