The Man and the Moment

"The Man and the Moment" by Elinor Glyn is a story from the early 1900s about Michael Arranstoun, a rich and attractive guy, and how his life gets all mixed up when he meets Violet Hatfield, whose husband is sick and dying. Michael is having a hard time with his feelings, which leads him to unexpectedly meet Sabine Delburg, a young girl who wants to get out of her engagement. Michael feels trapped by what people expect from him and what he wants. He argues with his friend Henry Fordyce about marrying Violet, and it's obvious Michael wants to escape. Just as he's thinking about doing something extreme to be free, Sabine comes into his life. She gives him a way to forget his problems, and they come up with a strange plan to get married because they both want to be free, but they don't know what will happen next. The beginning of the book shows that it's going to be a story with lots of love, freedom, and problems with what society wants, and hints that things are going to get crazy.