The easiest way: A Story of Metropolitan Life

About this book

The novel is a melodramatic social study of a fallen woman who tries to escape her “scarlet past” through a respectable attachment, only to meet “dire, miserable failure.” The opening frames Laura Murdock as a self‑styled “actress” who, despite lacking talent, hides a disreputable vocation behind the theatrical mask, while the authors assert that genuine stage professionals deserve higher regard. The narrative then plunges into a bustling New York night, describing the chaotic flow of crowds, cabbies, and police on Broadway, and the opulent, noisy all‑night cafés where gamblers, chorus girls, and “grass widows” mingle over champagne. Within this vivid tableau, the itinerant reporter John Madison, an ex‑cowboy turned journalist, arrives with his urbane lawyer friend, setting the scene for a clash of provincial virtue and metropolitan vice.

The prose is unmistakably late‑Victorian, marked by long, descriptive sentences and a moralizing tone that reflects the era’s preoccupation with respectability and gender roles. Its voice oscillates between detailed street‑level observation and didactic commentary, offering a window into early twentieth‑century urban life and the theatrical world’s reputation. Readers who relish period pieces rich in social detail, enjoy intricate character sketches, and appreciate a narrative that interrogates the tension between ambition and morality will find this work engaging.

Opening lines

In presenting this story of a declassee who attempts to redeem her scarlet past by a disinterested, honest attachment only to meet with dire, miserable failure, the authors wish to make it plain that their heroine and her associates are in no way to be identified with the dramatic profession. Laura Murdock represents the type of woman of easy virtue who is sometimes seen behind the footlights and helps to give the theatre a bad name. Although destitute of the slightest histrionic talent, she styles herself an "actress" in order to better conceal her true vocation. As a class, the earnest, hardworking men and women who devote their lives to the dramatic art are entitled to the highest regard and respect. No profession counts in its ranks more virtuous women, more honorable men than the artists who give lustre to the American stage. …

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