_Over 475,000 copies of English editions sold to date_
This novel, as its title indicates, is intended to illustrate the
place which, through all the ages hitherto, woman has held in
relation to man, the place assigned to her by law, custom, and even
religion. Mary O'Neill, a devout Catholic, is brought up in a
convent in Rome, and then married, before sex has awakened in her, to
a dissolute man of rank. On realising her position she rebels, and
refuses herself to her husband, but to prevent scandal, continues to
live under his roof. Later on, love is born in her, but it is for
another and much worthier man. What is she to do? In her eyes it is
sin to love anybody except her husband. And her religion forbids her
to seek her happiness through divorce. Thus she passes through a
great struggle. At length her love conquers and she flies from the
house in which she is a wife in name only. A child is born and she
goes through the still greater struggle of a mother with an
"unwanted" child. At length salvation comes to her, without the
violation of any law of state or church. The scene is chiefly
London. On first publication the "WOMAN" was much criticised for the
frankness of its treatment of a delicate subject, but the criticism
has long died down.
_The Daily Chronicle_ says: "It strikes a great blow for
righteousness, and in that light it is Hall Caine's greatest
achievement."