Unruly Human Hearts

2025 IPPY Awards Silver Medal Winner in Historical Fiction

“Southard’s prose is gripping … A superbly written story of love, betrayal, and resistance in the face of crisis.”—Kirkus Reviews

“The strength of Elizabeth’s character is at the novel’s core… . The riveting novel Unruly Human Hearts is sensitive in following a strong woman as she overcomes adversity.”—Foreword Reviews

“Imposition of impossible goals, insensitive statements, lies, taking your children away, shame, physical threats, gaslighting—women undergo similar incidents of violence no matter the times and circumstances. Unruly Human Hearts speaks to our world with loudspeakers, leaving us with a sense of impotence, rage, and hope. It sheds light on suffragist women in the US and women who fight for their rights everywhere.”—Yolanda Rivera Castillo, author of Emergencia de la luz and Baladas de tentación y destierro

“This is not just a story of a woman who tried to be a good Christian wife while passionately in love with her pastor; it’s a revelation of her anguish as she struggled to protect herself, her children, and the two men she loved from the toll of escalating public scandal.”—Linda Ulleseit, author of The River Remembers and Innocents at Home

“Barbara Southard has created a delightful and poignant novel… . Focusing on Elizabeth’s internal struggle to cope with her husband’s public support for women’s rights while maintaining the double standard in private, this story will inspire readers to ask themselves how women should confront similar challenges today. Perfect for fans of well-researched and engaging historical fiction!”—Jacqueline Friedland, author of The Stockwell Letters and Trouble the Water

“Unruly Human Hearts is a powerful and heart-wrenching story, delving into how ideals are ravaged when livelihoods and reputations are at stake.”—Tara Dorabji, author of Call Her Freedom

“The novel doesn’t just recount history—it brings it to life through Southard’s lyrical prose and deeply human portrayal of Elizabeth.”—Elba Iris Pérez, author of The Things We Didn’t Know

Barbara Southard grew up in New York City and holds a PhD in history from the University of Hawaii. She has served as a professor of history and associate dean of graduate studies at the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico.

She is the author of:

• The Women’s Movement and Colonial Politics in Bengal, a book on Indian history.
• The Pinch of the Crab, a collection of ten stories set in Puerto Rico.
• Unruly Human Hearts, a novel that won the IPPY silver medal for Historical Fiction and was a finalist in the American Fiction Awards for Literary Fiction and the CIBA Goethe Book Awards for Late Historical Fiction.

Barbara has also been active in raising funds for the Shonali Choudhury Fund of the Community Foundation of Puerto Rico, which helps local community organizations working to protect women from domestic violence. She does this work in honor of her daughter, a public health professor who died of a brain tumor.

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