The Iron Woman

A sequel to The Awakening of Helena Richie (1906), this novel begins as a character study of Helena and her adopted son. The focus shifts to the relationship between Sarah Maitland—a leathery old widow who owns and operates the Maitland Iron Works of Mercer—and her son Blair. Though Blair stands to inherit the business, he rebels against his mother and loves Elizabeth Ferguson.

Margaret Deland (1857-1945) was born Margaretta Wade Campbell to Allegheny City, Allegheny County clothing merchants. Her mother died after childbirth and her father died shortly thereafter, so Deland's mother's sister raised her in Manchester, then a borough in Allegheny County. Deland attended boarding school in New York and studied art at Cooper Union. She married Lorin Fuller Deland, Harvard's football coach. Maggie, as she was called, had a deep interest in women's issues and over the years she opened her home to over 60 unwed mothers and their babies. She was a friend to Willa Cather. For magazines, especially Harper's Weekly and The Atlantic Monthly, she published dozens of short stories, most based on her early years in Maple Grove and Manchester. She died in Boston. Frank Walter Taylor (1874-1921), born in Philadelphia, was an illustrator.