Home › Literary Fiction › Journey in the Dark
Journey in the Dark book cover
Literary Fiction · Melancholic

A man's life from poverty to prosperity in a small American town

Journey in the Dark

by Martin Flavin

1943Moderate readSlow pace
★ Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 1944

A businessman's rise, from a poor boyhood to middle age

Journey in the Dark follows Sam Braden from childhood in a small American town to middle age, as he moves from poverty to prosperity. His dying mother wished that he be not great but good. His business success comes at a cost to his integrity, and his two marriages, the first unhappy and the second happy, are part of the story.

More about this book

Who

Sam Braden, a businessman from a small American town, and his two wives.

World

A small American town.

What makes it different

It won the Harper Prize in 1943 and the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. It was printed as an Armed Services Edition and translated into nine European languages.

Feel

Plain, long and steady, about one man's career and his two marriages.

See it on Amazon

Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition

Behind the book

The novel was printed as an Armed Services Edition.

Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

About the author

Martin FlavinAmerican playwright and novelist, born in San Francisco. His novel Journey in the Dark won the Harper Prize and the 1944 Pulitzer Prize.