The Glass Madonna
by Donna MeredithPublish: Oct 18, 2010Historical Fiction Women's FictionBook Overview
Contemporary Women’s Fiction That Explores How Women’s Lives Have Changed—and How They Haven’t!Donna Meredith’s award-winning debut novel, "The Glass Madonna," tells the powerful story of a woman’s determination to create her own destiny. Coming of age was supposed to be easy in the 70s. After all, women have been liberated and love is free. Why does Sarah Stevens find life so hard? Union rules and tradition still ban women from glass making, an art form Sarah views as part of her family heritage. And regard for virginity is not as dead as Sarah thinks when she gives hers up to a college boyfriend. Her husband, unable to get past his jealousy, isolates her in a backwoods trailer and tells her he always wanted to marry a virgin. Unintentionally reinforcing his criticism, Aunt Livvie treasures a family heirloom, a glass figurine of the Madonna. It shines with perfect purity no real woman could achieve.
The protagonist, Sarah, is a woman who will steal your heart as she pursues her dream of breaking into the male-dominated field of glass making. The novel leaves readers with several questions to consider. Can an abusive spouse ever change? When is it time to give up on a marriage? Is there life after divorce? And most of all, is there anything a mother wouldn’t do for her child?
The novel weaves together stories of three generations of glass workers who emigrate from Germany to West Virginia. From Aunt Livvie, Sarah learns about women in her family who overcame wrenching losses, brutal working conditions, and rape. Her aunt’s stories and wisdom, and her family’s unconditional love give Sarah the courage to forge a new life for herself and her child in an era when divorce was still not acceptable in small-town America. "The Glass Madonna" underscores the importance of the women’s movement in freeing women (and men) from debilitating secrets and ruinous marriages.
The story explores the lies people tell to protect their families, the degenerative effects of alcoholism, and the love of mothers for their children. Readers will also learn something of the history of the glass industry in West Virginia.
Before its publication, the manuscript for the novel won first place for women’s fiction from the Florida Writers Association in the Royal Palm Literary contest and also runner-up in the Gulf Coast Novel Contest.
