Originally published 1941 Adaptations In This Our Life (1942) | ||
 | ||
Awards Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Similar Works by Ellen Glasgow, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners, Other books | ||
In This Our Life is a 1941 novel by the American writer Ellen Glasgow. It won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1942. The title is a quote from the sonnet sequence Modern Love by George Meredith: "Ah, what a dusty answer gets the soul/ When hot for certainties in this our life!"
The book was quickly bought by the Warner Brothers and adapted for a film of the same name, which was released in 1942.
Film adaptation
In 1941 Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for $40,000 and quickly began casting the film In This Our Life. The screenwriter Howard Koch adapted the novel for the screen, downplaying the incestuous aspect of William Fitzroy's relationship with his niece Stanley, and the portrayal of contemporary racial discrimination in the South. It starred Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, both well-recognized actresses, as the sisters.