 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | James M. Cain |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Hardboiled novel, psychological thriller |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | 1941 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| OCLC | 2714770 |
Mildred Pierce is a psychological drama by James M. Cain published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1941.[1]
A story of “social inequity and opportunity in America" set during the Great Depression, Mildred Pierce follows the trajectory of a lower-middle class divorcee with two children in her tragic struggle to achieve financial and personal success.[2] The novel is one of four major works Cain wrote featuring opera as a key component in the plot (Serenade (1937), Career in C Major (1938) and The Moth (1948) are the others.)[3]
Mildred Pierce is Cain’s first effort to write a novel in the third-person narrative form, a departure from his earlier works of the 1930s, all of them confessional narratives written in the first-person.[4]