The ironmaster; or, Love and pride. Translated from the 146th French edition Paperback – June 6, 2011

Starting by the obvious.An impoverished (she doesnot know) french young aristocrat lady accepts the marriage proposal of a rich non-aristocrat businessman.The only reason for it, is that she's been rejected by the man she loved because he preferred to marry a rich girl.He was impoverished, too.The businessman was madly in love with his fiancee, until their wedding night.That night, to his great misery,he discovers that she only married him to save her pride.She afterwards gets sick and their married life is put on hold indefinitely.I won't reveal the restThe writer's sharp comment on society. Impoverished aristocrats looked down on the rest of people, no matter the wealth they owned.A person with no title had to have extraordinary assets, if he/she was ever going to get some degree of respect by the riches-to-rags arrogant high society.Plus, the aristocrats' personalities were much less than flawless.Timeless value.

It is the story of a spoiled young girl who comes from a rich family and is supposed to have an opulent dowry. For the middle and upper class, the woman with no money had no use. If you were poor, the woman had a role, she could work, but it was not allowed for a middle class girl (you can verify that by reading Quality Street. For a long time, girls did only get married if they had some money. In France, it was a consideration until 1940. After the war, women had jobs and everything changed.So the girl thinks she has money, but her parents are ruined. When the ironmaster is willing to marry her, she thinks he is after her money and she despises him for it: he is industrialist: he has no class. He answers by ignoring her. The conflict is the essence of the book.I enjoyed the book when I was a teenager. I cannot tell you about its literary qualities. But I still remember it, over 50 years later, so there must be something strong in it.