The Wheel of Life (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

This novel of Virginians in New York City was hailed by the New York Times as "the first important novel of 1906" and compared favorably to Wharton's House of Mirth.  The novel focuses on the struggles of an aspiring young poet, Laura Wilde, but at its true core is Roger Adams, a poignant study in Christ-like self-abnegation.