Joan and Co.

"Joan and Co." by Frederick Orin Bartlett is a novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on Joan Fairburne, a wealthy young debutante restless with society’s rituals, Dicky Burnett, an amiable heir just awakening to real feeling, and Mark Devons, a hungry inventor, whose lives intersect after a snowstorm accident. The story explores class, purpose, and the tension between comfort and conviction as romance, ambition, and business loyalties collide. The opening of the novel introduces Dicky’s growing seriousness about Joan amid New York society and his affectionate but candid bond with his industrious father, whose leather-finishing company dominates its field. It then shifts to Joan’s boredom with her protected world, her broadened sympathies from college—especially through her friendship with the late Mildred Devons—and her craving for a “big adventure.” Meanwhile, Mildred’s cousin Mark, a gifted but penniless inventor with a superior leather-dressing process, is turned down by financiers wary of Burnett’s entrenched power; starving in a snowstorm, he stumbles into the path of Joan’s car just after Joan has refused Dicky’s impulsive proposal. Joan brings Mark home, where Dr. Nichols treats him and discovers his malnourishment; guilt and curiosity draw Joan to read to him and talk of fate and responsibility, while Dicky, kept at a distance, writes a plainspoken, loyal letter and makes a tense, brief call. By the time these first chapters close, Joan’s daily visits and Mark’s recovery begin to erode class barriers, setting the trio on a course of intertwined choices.