I pretty much knew Margaret Sanger as an early birth control advocate, but this short novel unveiled her fascinating life and mission. Ahead of her time, Margaret was involved in early twentieth-century socialism before taking up her signature issue of birth control. Surprisingly (to me), she also practiced free love - engaging in a number of extramarital affairs during both of her marriages. I know there is more to dig into with Margaret's life - the book skated over her embrace of eugenics rather neatly - but I found myself really empathizing with this woman whose cause still feels current and pressing. ( )

Original review posted on my blog:

I participated in a TLC Book Tour and was provided a copy of the book by the publisher for an honest review.

Terrible Virture by Ellen Feldman
Harper, 2016
Fiction (Historical); 272 pgs

Terrible Virtue is coming out at a time when it is needed most. Women's health rights are being brought into question--and I do not just mean on the abortion front. Whether you are for or against abortion, or fall somewhere in between, the reality is women have had to fight every step of the way to gain some control over their own lives throughout history, including the use of contraceptives. As I write this review, the California Senate has passed a law allowing birth control to be distributed without a doctor's prescription. The law is not without its opponents, to be sure. But I imagine Margaret Sanger would be smiling from ear to ear, maybe even dancing for joy.

There was a time when the law (the Comstock Laws) limited and prohibited the sale and advertisement of contraceptives. Just to talk about them was not only considered indecent but was illegal as well. Not only was it considered lewd and immoral, but it was also seen as promoting promiscuity (some would say this is true still today). With the changing times came the women's suffragist movement in which women began to ask for the right to vote. They wanted to be heard, and rightfully so. Along with that came women like Margaret Sanger who advocated for women's health issues; her top priority being contraceptives (what she would later come to call birth control).

Terrible Virtue is a novel about Margaret's life, particularly the early years of her activism and fight for women's rights. Ellen Feldman recreates Margaret's life, imagining what it must have been like for Margaret in a time when so many seemed against her as she fought for social change. One of eleven children, Margaret knew hardship of growing up in a home with so many children as her mother and father struggled to care for them all. It isn't surprising that Margaret would take an activist role given her upbringing and her beliefs. She felt very passionately about many things, but especially about educating women about their bodies and about the use of contraceptives.


As a nurse working in the tenements with the working class and the poor, she saw how the women struggled, unable to control the number of children they had, dying in childbirth, and sometimes performing abortions on themselves. Margaret wanted to spare them that. No one should have to use a button hook to perform an abortion. As a result, Margaret fought hard to educate women from all walks of life about their contraceptive options, writing up pamphlets and providing advice that flew in the face of the Comstock Laws. She wanted to save lives and give these women some control over their own lives. She would go on to open the first clinic in 1916 for women's health issues, specializing in providing them with information on birth control and family planning. She is known today as the founder of Planned Parenthood.

Margaret devoted her life to her cause, believing the only way to change the law was to first break it. Her path was not an easy one. She sacrificed much in the end. Including her family. I really felt for her children who longed for the love and attention of their mother. While I do imagine Margaret loved them, she wasn't really there for them. Her cause was her first love. Her children always took a backseat. Her marriage suffered as well. Although, that wasn't as surprising given Margaret's view on traditional marriage. Her many affairs were, for the most part, out in the open. Her husband knew going in what her beliefs about fidelity were--she thought he agreed. As much as I might disagree with her choice in lifestyle, it isn't fair of me to fault Margaret for hers as open and honest as she was about it all, at least not when I really think about it.

Written in memoir style, it was hard to remember this novel is fiction. Author Ellen Feldman paints Margaret Sanger as the human being she likely was, both her admirable qualities and her many flaws. She was charismatic and passionate. She was extremely competitive and determined, at at time when both qualities were viewed as negatives in a woman. Margaret could be ruthless and calculating, but she also could be generous and thoughtful. While I admire Margaret in many ways for the strides she made, I admit to not being a fan of her on a personal level. Whether that's because of the way she was drawn in the novel or based on her real character, is hard to say. That would depend on how realistic the author was in her portrayal of Margaret.

Periodically throughout the novel, Feldman includes viewpoints of others in Margaret's life written in the form of letters to Margaret. The one from her middle child was particular poignant. And another from her sister was quite revealing. All help form a more whole picture of who Margaret was and the impact it had on those around her.

There is some controversy surrounding Margaret Sanger in regards to her involvement with the Eugenics movement, which, while addressed in the book to some degree, is mostly glossed over--something I wish the author had delved into a little more deeply. I could not help but do a little digging of my own after a conversation I had with a coworker on the subject. I can see why Eugenics might have been appealing, especially to someone like Margaret who was in the medical profession. It was a popular theory at the time, and while she did not subscribe to the whole of Eugenics, Margaret did support it in part, at least as far as it played into her ideas surrounding birth control. She felt strongly about any decision regarding family planning being in the hands of the individual. There is a lot of misinformation out there, including quotes attributed to Margaret that weren't actually hers and statements she made taken out of context--this done in an effort to discredit and suppress her. This, at least, Feldman does mention to some extent.

I admit I had only known the bare basics about Margaret Sanger before reading Ellen Feldman's novel Terrible Virtue. Margaret was a fierce supporter of women's rights and pushing for necessary social change. She fought hard and sacrificed much. Feldman reminds us, however, that Margaret was also very human, and at times conflicted, especially where her children were concerned. I imagine there is much more to the woman than Feldman could possibly cover in her novel--or else it would turn into a biography.Overall, I found Terrible Virtue to be a compelling and fascinating book about a significant figure in American history. ( )

When I finished this novel, I wished that I had read a decent biography instead. I didn't know too much about Margaret Sanger, aside that she was a crusader for birth control, but this book made her pretty superficial and unlikable. Driven by the memory of her mother going through 18 pregnancies, Margaret, who started out as a nurse, devoted her life to helping women learn about family planning. Well, that and, if you buy what this novel puts forth, screwing just about every man that she encountered. No sooner do they meet than Margaret is feeling an electric spark and recognizing how attractive she is, and before you know it, she's lifting her skirts wherever she happens to be. (And the writing in these scenes is just awful--repetitive and cliché.) I guess this makes more sense now that I know that she hung around with the socialist/free love crowd in the early part of the century (Jack Reid, Emma Goldman, etc.), but it got tiresome. She expresses some guilt about being a "bad mother" to her three children, and on the whole, Terrible Virtue does depict her as one. But of course, motherhood is supposedly one of the sacrifices she made for her cause. She feels especially guilty about her daughter's death; young Peggy came down with pneumonia during one of her speaking tours, and although Margaret made it hope to nurse her in the hospital, she blames herself for not having been there to prevent the illness in the first place. Throughout the book, she sees all the women who come to her for advice as Peggys, and she is haunted by dreams of her dead daughter, with whom she tries to converse through mediums. My guess is that the author intended to portray her as a woman who suffered from the personal sacrifices she made in order to change other women's lives, but she often came across to me as selfish, ambitious, and vain. This novel sparked enough interest in Margaret Sanger to send me off to look for a reputable biography, but I really can't recommend it. ( )

Margaret Sanger has influenced the lives of millions of women. Most of us know the name, but possibly little else. Ellen Feldman recreates Sanger's life and times in a fictionalized biography that shows Sanger in a sympathetic light, but introduces voices that offer competing interpretations of Sanger's personality and behavior. What seems unquestionable is Sanger's courage and determination. A very timely subject and engagingly written. ( )

My Bookpage review

I'd give another half star here, if I could.

http://bookpage.com/features/19533-women-who-made-their-mark#.VtW-E032YdU ( )