Publication Date: January 28, 2025
A tale of faith, passion, idealism, and betrayal, perfect for book clubs, fans of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Invention of Wings, and those fascinated by love triangles, contradictions between public images and private lives, and the limitations faced by women in the nineteenth century.
Elizabeth Tilton, a devout housewife, shares liberal ideals with her husband, Theodore Tilton, and their pastor and close friend Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, both influential reformers of the Reconstruction Era who promote suffrage for women and former slaves and advocate for the spiritual power of love rather than Calvinistic retribution.
Elizabeth is torn between admiration for her husband’s stand on women’s rights and resentment of his dominating ways at home. When Theodore justifies his extramarital affairs in terms of the free love doctrine that marriage should not restrict other genuine loves, she becomes closer to Henry, who admires her spiritual gifts—and eventually falls passionately in love with him.
Once passion for her pastor undermines the moral certainties of her generation, Elizabeth enters into uncharted emotional and ethical territory. Under what circumstances should she tell the truth? If she does, will she lose her children and her marriage? Will she destroy her own reputation and the career of the reverend who has done much good? Can a woman accustomed to following the leadership of men find her own path and define her own truth?
Barbara Southard has brought to this novel one of the most scandalous trials of its period in Unruly Human Hearts. It is 1875, and Elizabeth Stilton is like most women of this period: a devout Christian attending to her husband’s every need.
The tide for women has begun with waves of change. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony are making a name for themselves as they herald the rights of women, namely the ability to vote. They were considered intellectuals and even had the support of some men. One of those men was Theodore Tilton, a newspaper editor. Theo spends a great deal of time among the suffragettes and travels often to lecture. At this time, there is an idea of “free love,” where one could search for a monogamous relationship but freely end it when love fades without legal retribution. But this story illuminates the complicated personal struggles women faced that went well beyond being denied the right to vote.
Unruly Human Hearts examines the real-life struggle of Theo’s wife, Elizabeth. She gets caught up in her husband’s wild moods and public persona. Reading this novel, the reader will follow one of the most complex and scandalous trials of the time. The manipulation of Elizabeth by her husband certainly is an example of gaslighting that drags a woman beyond the emotional abuse, which is often kept behind closed doors.
Barbara Southard’s Unruly Human Hearts is a comprehensible account of one of history’s most sensational stories connected to the early Women’s Rights Movement.
Barbara Southard grew up in New York, earned a PhD from the University of Hawaii, and served as professor in the History Department of the University of Puerto Rico. In addition to academic publications on women’s history, she is the author of The Pinch of the Crab, a short story collection set in Puerto Rico, exploring social conflicts of island life, mostly from the perspective of women and girls. In her debut novel Unruly Human Hearts, Barbara once again explores social conflict from the point of view of the woman involved in a different place and epoch. She has also been active in raising funds for the Shonali Choudhury Fund of the Community Foundation of Puerto Rico, helping local community organizations working to protect women from domestic violence.
