The author says: "I have retold their story from my grandmother's point of view. The title comes from the 31st chapter of Proverbs: Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies."
A Price Beyond Rubies is not only true to the spirit of the times of the Civil War and the Western Border, but also to what Barry terms "the fundamental equation between men and women." This 1860s novel characterizes the independent, strong women of that day as they come up against the power and control of their men. And interestingly, Barry is amazingly consistent in her character observations throughout both her fiction and nonfiction works. Her guide for the professional woman, Cinderella Doesn't Work Here Anymore, published in 1991, begins: "It is the exceptional woman who practices the science of rational choice in the pursuit of her own happiness. . . . Our favorite story was Cinderella who was the epitome of passivity and the recipient of the most magic."
This newest work, A Price Beyond Rubies, explodes with "exceptional" women, like Sarah Griffin Flint, who even then challenged the Cinderella myths and who, though never passive, still were recipients of the "magic."
Barry has made every effort to correlate the fictional characters and events with historical records as well as with her grandfather's autobiography. The result is a novel which by today's standards might be politically incorrect -- yet, Barry states, "since my grandfather was considered by the Ku Klux Klan to be a dangerous radical who aided and abetted the education of Negroes, I have no doubt that he would have appreciated the irony of my position."
A Price Beyond Rubies is a masterful portrait of a tumultuous era.
