Margaret Wilhelmina Wilson achieved a reputation as a short-story writer before she began writing the novels upon which her reputation now rests. Her first novel, The Able McLaughlins (1923), brought her public acclaim, and although she never again achieved the celebrity brought her by that initial endeavor, she continued to write novels that were widely read and caused a certain amount of controversy and interest among critics of the time. As Wilson's career progressed, her novels increasingly concentrated on sociological themes, sometimes to the detriment of plot, which Wilson often deemed secondary to the social message she sought to convey.

All Wilson's serious novels are based on personal experience and firsthand observation of her subject matter. Her two constant themes are the effects of religion on the individual and the repressed position of women in society. She once stated that she enjoyed "the great advantage of writing consciously and...