Pulitzer Book Club Inclusion Guide
"The Able McLaughlins"
by Margaret Wilson
INCLUSION MILESTONES
1924
• IBM and MGM founded
• Statue of Liberty designated National Monument
• Nellie Tayloe Ross first woman elected governor
AUTHOR INSPIRATIONS
Child of Iowa farmers. Same name as an Scottish martyr. Philosophy major who spent six years as Presbyterian missionary in India. Said she wrote “consciously and unconsciously for women.”
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– Share your key take-away about inclusion in this book in a sentence or two.
– Write a paragraph or two (up to 250 words) to describe your thoughts on exclusion/inclusion in the book, why you related or did not connect with the book, and why you think reading, inclusion and dialog about inclusion matter.
– Identify the name and website address of a cause you support with an inclusive mission.
How rape survivor, “savior” husband address shame, anger, social norms.
Reveal of baby’s father.
Novel about rape written in the 1920s.
Seems longer: 262 pages or 10 podcast hours
There is no justification for asking someone to live a lie.
Complete focus on clan of Scottish Presbyterian (Covenanters) immigrant farmers who support, judge, and marry each other. Elders speak in dialect.
Shame on those who conceive before marriage.
Very prescribed roles and options for women.
A sophisticated woman and young intellectual are outliers. Laziness vilified.
Openness to Civil War deserters. No perspectives on why the war was fought. Land as American dream.
Attitudes toward rapist examined.
Wild turkey or chicken, plums, apples, a hat full of blackberries, melted milk, and whatever else your poverty affords. Hope someone from Glasgow makes some wee cakes sweetened with outrageously priced white sugar.
“He made me do evil once. You made me do evil once. But nobody can make me do it again.”
Lots of flowers -- peony, roses, lilacs, sunflowers, goldenrod, asters, phlox.
Bible in case you want to reference the 15th or 23rd psalms, candlelight to read and eat by, and readiness for many unanticipated guests.
How do religion and morality drive the novel?
How do you think the characters would feel about abortion?
What is the prevailing attitude toward the Civil War?
What is expected of women and men in this novel?
Discuss motivations and behavior related to attitudes of neighbors.
Do neighbors act in a way you would expect/want?
Do people oppress others to feel power?
How do societal norms and personal conscience collide/align?
How do mothers’ think about and feel about and do for their children?
What are honor, pride, disgrace, and revenge really about?
Should there be forgiveness for repeat offenders?
How would the premise of this novel play out today?
Iowa State University Archives has a Margaret Wilson Special Collection.
The Iowa Prairie Network can direct you to the .1% of original prairie remaining in Iowa.
In Chicago, see prairie plantings (on east side of Green Bay Road from Wilmette/Evanston line to McCormick Boulevard in Evanston) or The Grove National Historic Landmark which includes restored prairie. Seek an Arts and Cultural Division of Chicago Scots event. See Rosehill Cemetery and Civil War Museum.
No adaptations of novel discovered, so watch a Little House on the Prairie episode and decide if novel is its adult-rated precursor.
Sequel: The Law and the McLaughlins (1936)
The Kenworthys (1925), The Painted Room (1926), Daughters of India (1928), Trousers of Taffeta (1929), and The Devon Treasure Mystery (1939).
Also published short stories using pseudonym “An Elderly Spinster.”