POSSESSION
Reading edition
A NOVEL BY LOUIS BROMFIELD Author of “The Green Bay Tree" NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY MCMXXVI Copyright, 1925, by Frederick A. Stokes Company All rights reserved
PublishedSeptember 30, 1925
Second Printing (before Publication),Sept. 26, 1925
Third PrintingOctober 20, 1925
Fourth PrintingNovember 14, 1925
Fifth PrintingNovember 25, 1925
Sixth PrintingDecember 9, 1925
Seventh PrintingJanuary 25, 1926
Eighth PrintingFebruary 15, 1926
Ninth PrintingMay 1, 1926
Printed in the United States of America
To MARY
“Life is hard for our children. It isn’t as simple as it was for us. Their grandfathers were pioneers and the same blood runs in their veins, only they haven’t a frontier any longer. They stand—these children of ours—with their backs toward this rough-hewn middle west and their faces set toward Europe and the East and they belong to neither. They are lost somewhere between.”
“Wherever she goes, trouble will follow. She’s born like most people with a touch of genius, under a curse. She is certain to affect the lives of every one about her ... because, well, because the threads of our lives are hopelessly tangled.... Marry her if you will, but don’t expect happiness to come of it. She would doubtless bear you a son ... a fine strong son, because she’s a fine cold animal. But don’t expect satisfaction from her. She knows too well exactly where she is bound.”