7 h 49 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 49 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does an honest life cost when someone else pays for your comfort?
In the New York of the early twentieth century, Laura Murdock earns too little as an actress to support the life she wants. Wealthy businessman Willard Brockton makes up the difference, but his money comes with an expectation of loyalty. Laura longs for a life she can call honest.
Then Jack Madison, a hopeful young newspaperman from the West, offers love and marriage, but not wealth. Laura wants to become the woman he believes she is. Around her, theatre friends accept their own bargains with city life. To choose Jack, she must find a way to break her tie to Brockton.
What you’ll discover
- Comfort with a cost Follow Laura as the money that supports her also limits her choices.
- Love without a fortune Meet Jack Madison, whose sincere hopes offer Laura a different kind of future.
- A friend's practical view Elfie St. Clair accepts the city's bargains, giving Laura's struggle a frank counterpoint.
- Money behind the household Watch Annie, Laura's maid, who understands more about the household's finances than she says.
- Drama with difficult questions Enter a stage-rooted story that asks how freely a woman with few honest earning options can choose.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love stage stories, old New York nightlife and sharp dialogue. It also rewards anyone curious about money, reputation and the pull between comfort and honest love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- An innocent face enters Broadway
- Laura treats affection as business
- Madison unsettles Laura's practical world
- A proposal asks for a break
- Poverty wears down Laura's promise
- The burned letter preserves a lie
- A telegram brings the truth closer
- Fear makes each lie more costly
- Every offer carries its own terms
Who’s who
- Laura MurdockA pretty actress of modest talent who lives on rich men's money and longs, for the first time, to be honestly loved.
- John MadisonA strong, plainspoken newspaper man from the West who forgives Laura's past and dreams of a fortune in gold.
- Willard BrocktonA blunt Wall Street broker who keeps Laura, plays fair by his own rules and hates being made a liar.
- Elfie St. ClairLaura's cheerful, hard-bitten friend who treats romance as business and wants Laura to take the easy road.
- Jim WestonAn out-of-work advance agent with a family, who stays honest through hard times and befriends Laura at the boardinghouse.
- AnnieThe boardinghouse maid who follows Laura into her new life, watches closely and looks out for her own interests.
- Glenn WarnerA well-groomed New York lawyer who introduces Madison to the Broadway crowd and the people in it.
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The Easiest Way in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Easiest Way
by Eugene Walter; Arthur Hornblow
A Broadway beauty tries to leave Willard Brockton for John Madison, a Colorado reporter, and an honest life.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What does a woman give up when she tries to start over, and what does the world charge her for it? The Easiest Way is a novel of New York theaters, cafés and boardinghouses, and of the mountains of Colorado.
The Easiest Way at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 30 min3 h 35 min fast, 5 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 64,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Broadway night introduces its people
The story opens at midnight near Broadway and Forty-second Street, where the theaters let out and the crowd pours toward the cafés. Two young men take a corner table. One is Glenn Warner, a lawyer who knows everyone. The other is John Madison, a newspaper man from Denver.
Warner points out the regulars like a guide at a zoo. A bookmaker, a woman once tried for murder and a lawyer under indictment all sit within view. Madison asks where the respectable people are, and Warner says most of the room has a police record. Madison is a farm boy turned sailor, soldier and sheriff, and he lives by his mother's rule to never forget that she was a woman.
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Details
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Cite this edition
Walter, Eugene, and Arthur Hornblow. The Easiest Way. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-easiest-way.
Walter, E., & Hornblow, A. (2026). The easiest way. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-easiest-way
Walter, Eugene, and Arthur Hornblow. The Easiest Way. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-easiest-way.
@book{walter2026easiest,
author = {Walter, Eugene and Hornblow, Arthur},
title = {The Easiest Way},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-easiest-way}
}
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What is The Easiest Way about?
It follows Laura Murdock, a New York actress supported by a wealthy broker. She falls in love with an honest Western reporter and tries to change her life, but poverty and her own fears test every promise she makes.
Who is Laura Murdock in The Easiest Way?
Laura is a beautiful but modestly talented actress who has lived on the generosity of men since her teens. She is clever, weak, fond of luxury and, through love, briefly eager to live differently.
Why is the book called The Easiest Way?
The title refers to the comfortable road Laura is tempted to take whenever life grows hard. The phrase also appears as a judgment in the story's later scenes, so listen for who speaks it.
The author
Eugene Walter
1874–1941 · American playwright
Eugene Walter (1874–1941) was an American playwright. The library has The Easiest Way.
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