My Mortal Enemy

Myra Driscoll had it all -- dresses, jewels, a riding horse, and a Steinway piano -- until she met and fell in love with Oswald Henshawe, a man her uncle, John Driscoll, hated. Despite the threat of disinheritance by Driscoll, Myra married Oswald. Nellie Birdseye, Myra's niece, narrates the poignant journey through a failing marriage and a woman's painful struggle with the internal conflict of its blame. This unforgettable novella, written in 1926 by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather, offers a tragic depiction of the marriage paradox: how to reconcile youth's romantic exuberance with growing disillusionment, bitterness, and regret.