Between the Devil

This novel, published in 1939, is set in a small town in Virginia with an economy centred on a mill. The central character, Edward Burton, a young Methodist minister, whose wife is expecting their first child, becomes embroiled in the conflict between a fledgling trade union movement and the union-busting vigilantes. Having both powerful and powerless in his congregation, he tries, with the best of intentions, to serve each side with tragic results both for him and for the vulnerable people he seeks to help.

The author, Murrell Edmunds (born 23 March 1898), grew up in Virginia. While studying at the University of Virginia, he joined the army for service during the latter months of the war. On returning to university, he studied law. in 1926 he abandoned the legal profession to devote his time to writing. He sought to show in his writing the possibility of change through “the gradual relaxation of old patterns and tensions and a forthright new articulation of the brotherhood of man”. His first novel was published in 1927. During a long career he wrote eight more novels as well as short stories, plays and poetry. Aware that his social and political views were too progressive for Virginian society in general, he spent much of his career in New Orleans where his views were either tolerated or shared by those in his social circle.

Edward Burton, the young minister at the centre of this novel, is not unduly troubled when encountering death in his pastoral work:
“Edward laid his Bible on the side of the bed and sat down. Anne's pale face was barely recognisable on the white pillow, the outlines of her wasted body hardly discernible under the covers. He looked at her closely. He was accustomed to death; it neither shocked nor awed him. Death was sure. Death was certain. Life it was that bewildered and betrayed.”