The Street Called Straight (novel)

The Street Called Straight is a 1912 novel by the Canadian-American clergyman and author Basil King. Following the massive success of The Inner Shrine (1909) and The Wild Olive (1910), this novel further established King as one of the most popular novelists of the era. It was the best-selling book in the United States for the month of July 1912 and finished as the seventh best-selling book for the entire year.^[1]

The title is a Biblical allusion to the street in Damascus mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (9:11), used metaphorically to describe the narrow and difficult path of moral rectitude and honor.

The novel is set in the upper-crust society of Boston (referred to as "Waverton"). It centers on Henry Guion, a distinguished and wealthy lawyer who has embezzled funds from the estate of a client to maintain his social standing. As the story opens, his crime is on the verge of exposure.

Guion's daughter, Olivia, is a proud and high-minded young woman engaged to Colonel Rupert Ashley, a dashing British officer. Olivia is unaware of her father's criminal activities. When the scandal threatens to break, a former suitor of Olivia's, Peter Vavavasour (who has changed his name to Peter Wayne), returns from the West. Wayne is now a successful engineer who made his fortune in mining.

Despite having been rejected by Olivia years earlier, Wayne offers to secretly pay off Guion's debts to save the family's honor and prevent Guion's arrest. He does this out of a sense of Christian charity and lingering affection, without expecting anything in return.

The central conflict is moral rather than physical: Olivia discovers the truth and is torn between her engagement to Colonel Ashley and her indebtedness to Wayne. Colonel Ashley, upon learning of the disgrace, behaves with technical honor but lacks the deep, sacrificial spirit that Wayne demonstrates. Olivia must navigate the "Street Called Straight"—the difficult choice between social expectation and true spiritual integrity. Ultimately, she breaks her engagement with the Englishman and recognizes the superior character of the American, Peter Wayne.^[2]

• Olivia Guion: The heroine; a proud Bostonian who learns humility and the true meaning of honor.
• Henry Guion: Olivia's father; a respected lawyer whose financial improprieties drive the plot.
• Peter Wayne (formerly Vavasour): A rough-hewn but noble engineer who saves the Guion family from ruin.
• Colonel Rupert Ashley: Olivia's British fiancé; a man of correct social form but limited spiritual depth.
• Drusilla Fane: Olivia's aunt, who provides social commentary and comic relief.

As with many of Basil King's novels, the story is a secular sermon on the power of forgiveness and redemption. It contrasts the rigid, legalistic code of honor (represented by the British Colonel and the old Boston society) with a more fluid, Christian ethic of self-sacrifice and mercy (represented by Peter Wayne). The novel suggests that true nobility is found in helping the fallen rather than judging them.

The novel was adapted into a silent film, The Street Called Straight (1920), produced by Goldwyn Pictures. It was directed by Wallace Worsley and starred Naomi Childers as Olivia and Milton Sills as Peter Wayne.^[3]