Terrible Virtue: A Novel - Hardcover

“Terrible Virtue is captivating, powerful, headlong and inventive―just like its subject. A beautifully wrought, compulsively readable novel. Ellen Feldman can do anything.” (Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches: Salem, 1692)

“[A] highly topical novelization of the life of Margaret Sanger.... We need her story now more than ever.” (Elle)

“Feldman compellingly portrays the difficult choices confronting women living in a man’s world.... This immersive, moving, and thought-provoking book is worthy of the intense discussions it’s sure to spark.” (Booklist, starred review)

“How does a minimally educated, working class woman redirect the moral compass of an entire generation? Feldman shows us how in her masterful novel, Terrible Virtue. Passionate, driven, the Margaret Sanger of Feldman’s imagination is every bit as complex as the world she was determined to enlighten.” (Mary Beth Keane, author of Fever: A Novel of Typhoid Mary)

“A fascinating exploration of Margaret Sanger as a visionary tour de force who left a stream of public victories and private casualties in her wake. Birth control, sex, family, work, individual need, free love, the greater good―it’s all here, historically grounded but as relevant today as it was then.” (Elizabeth Graver, author of The End of the Point)

“Compelling.... An excellent choice for book groups.” (Library Journal)

“Margaret Sanger blazes to life in this riveting, powerful novel. Read Terrible Virtue once to learn about the woman whose work ultimately shaped Western culture, then read it again for Ellen Feldman’s masterful storytelling. Fascinating and unforgettable.” (Lynn Cullen, author of Twain's End)

“Margaret Sanger was passionate about birth control, freedom, a surprising number of men and her daughter. Ellen Feldman lets us see all these sides of one of America’s most complicated heroines, a woman who knew too well the hard choice between work and family. An irresistible and utterly timely novel.” (Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy)

“A powerful, haunting, deeply ambitious novel about love and war, impeccably executed, impossible to put down.” (Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra: A Life, on Next to Love)

“A riveting drama...inspired and inspiring.... Ruby is a gem of a character, and belongs with the best of William Faulkner’s, or Alice Walker’s, women.” (San Francisco Chronicle on The Unwitting)