Nalbro Bartley

Nalbro Bartley wrote short stories and popular novels during the early decades of the twentieth century. Born in Buffalo in 1888, she began a run of books with Paradise Auction, The Bargain True, and A Woman’s Woman. The Gorgeous Girl and The Gray Angels both appeared in 1920. The first places questions about women’s work, money, and marriage inside a business office, while the second follows a gifted young singer from a small town towards New York’s arts world. Later novels included Fair to Middling, The Mediocrat, and Breathless. Bartley died in San Francisco in 1952. Across these stories, she repeatedly placed women’s ambitions against the social and economic expectations surrounding them.