The Price She Paid

"The Price She Paid" by David Graham Phillips is a story that unveils the hidden selfishness of a man, Henry Gower, whose sudden death throws his family into a world of financial struggle and social pressure in a late 19th-century upper-middle-class setting. The book follows his widow and children as they navigate a society obsessed with wealth, where marriage is more about status than love, and expectations crush the spirit, especially for Gower's daughter, Mildred, who must confront difficult choices about her future in a community driven by materialism and superficial connections.