Before You Begin

Before you begin.

A trial victory brings Henry Janeway back into the orbit of the Durand family. Once their lawyer, he now faces a conflict shaped by the steel business, the law, and Louise Durand’s marriage to Robert. The people around them carry their own loyalties and ideas of justice into the dispute.

Frank H. Spearman sets the novel in the Midwestern world he knew well: the industry and civic life of Fond du Lac, the offices and galleries of Chicago, and journeys across a Europe altered by war. Published in 1923, the story turns on a question that is at once public and intimate: what can a person’s conscience ask when law, marriage, and loyalty pull in different directions?

The illustrated companion begins with Spearman’s author portrait, then introduces the principal figures, maps the story’s geography, and returns to four moments from the novel. These images offer a guide to the people and places ahead while leaving the story’s choices for you to discover.