The bestseller list of 1922 has everything from comedy to social criticism. Neither category, however, is on my personal list of favorites for the year.
My favorites are the two novels by A. S. M. Hutchinson, If Winter Comes and This Freedom, and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Head of the House of Coombe. All three explore facets of the human psyche in very different ways.
This Freedom is the better of the two Hutchinson novels. Hutchinson makes the characters feel real, their choices seem grounded in reality. The exploration of whether women can “have it all” is still timely, as are questions about how to run a two-paycheck household.
That said, I admit I prefer If Winter Comes. With his ability to see other people’s perspectives, his humor, his dedication to doing right the lead character is so un-heroic that I can’t help rooting for him. I’m quite willing to ignore the too-contrived ending as long as it ends well for Mark.
My third choice is Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Head of the House of Coombe which takes readers behind the lace curtains to find the upper crust are as bad as the tabloids make them appear. The victim is a poor, fatherless child; to learn who the villain is, you have to read the novel.
Any of these novels will provide good entertainment. Each is available as a free e-book at Project Gutenberg.