Ellen Glasgow 
Virginia 

Virginia-born novelist Ellen Glasgow played a leading role in helping Southern literature move away from the idealized, romantic portraits that were common in the nineteenth century, and toward a more gritty, realistic, nuanced view of the region.The Virginia of this book’s title is a woman, Virginia Pendleton, who strives throughout her life to live up to the ideal of Southern femininity, but it’s a guise that ultimately does her more harm than good.