John Galsworthy 
The Dark Flower (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

This 1913 novel traces the history of one man, Mark Lennan, from his eighteenth year through his forty-eighth.  But Galsworthy’s real focus is the women in Mark’s life. Each phase of his adulthood focuses on a women – his mother, then wife, then daughter, represented by “Spring, ” “Summer, ” and “Autumn, ” respectively.  A contemporary review in the New York Times called the book ‘his most vital novel.’

About the author