Newland Archer is a young lawyer, a member of New York's high society, and engaged to be married to May Welland. Countess Ellen Olenska is May's cousin, and wants a divorce from the Polish nobleman she married. Intelligent and beautiful, she comes back to New York where she tries to fit into the high society life she had before her marriage. Her family and former friends, however, are shocked by the idea of divorce within their social circle, and she finds herself snubbed by her own class. Ellen and Newland fall in love and must choose between passion and conventions.
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"I really like Wharton's sense of humor. She had me laughing out loud at times. Of course, I neglected to bookmark anything and will have to find some quotes to post later. I think, in many ways, we still live in a Victorian society where we should not step out of bounds and conform to our "station" in life."
— Jacque (4 out of 5 stars)
“Will writers ever recover that peculiar blend of security and alertness which characterizes Mrs. Wharton and her tradition?”
— E. M. Forster“Is it—in this world—vulgar to ask for more? To entreat a little wildness, a dark place or two in the soul?”
— Katherine Mansfield“There is no woman in American literature as fascinating as the doomed Madame Olenska…Traditionally, Henry James has always been placed slightly higher up the slope of Parnassus than Edith Wharton. But now that the prejudice against the female writer is on the wane, they look to be exactly what they are: giants, equals, the tutelary and benign gods of our American literature.”
— Gore Vidal“Wharton’s characters leap out from the pages and...become very real. You know their hearts, souls, and yearnings and the price they pay for those yearnings.”
— San Francisco Examiner“Indispensable…A perfectly wrought book about an era when upper-class culture in this country was still a mixture of American and European extracts, and when ‘society’ had rules as rigid as any in history.”
— Amazon.com, editorial review" What a beautiful writing style, and what an insight into New York society. I loved the complexity of all the characters, especially the thoroughly misunderstood little wife. "
— Wendy, 2/13/2014" Its a book, too much attention to minor detail, not enough dialog or focus. "
— Tracy, 2/8/2014" one of the best, loved it "
— Sarah, 2/1/2014" Lots of great quotes in this one! "
— Sairah, 1/27/2014" Classic story of forgotten times. Beautifully written, the characters do not disappoint. The story runs deeper than it first appears, with twists and turns and character development that keeps the reader interested to the very end. "
— Betsy, 1/20/2014" i love the subtlety of this; so little "happens" that you can be lulled into thinking that nothing is happening. it's the perfect antidote to the whole bit. ly/ say-it-in-140-character world. "
— Mimi, 1/18/2014" The pace at the beginning is quite slow, and I really don't see a lot of action, especially around the beginning, which is the most important part. Once you get started though, it goes by quite quickly and you start connecting with the storyline a bit. Unfortunately, at this time and age, this book just doesn't seem to capture the readers' attention enough. There is a lesson to be learned and a story to be told, but it's too buried underneath a thick layer of passiveness to be recommended. "
— Boyu, 1/16/2014" This one gets better, deeper every time I read it. "
— ms.pointy, 1/16/2014" Really good. It gets funny while giving out subtle points. The book moved a bit slowly for me but I liked it still, enough to keep going, and I got a pretty amazing payoff in the end! Also appreciated the fact that for a classic, this book's language wasn't too hard to keep up with. "
— Nenen, 1/10/2014" This book taught me why it is important to read fiction. "
— MacKenzie, 1/9/2014" Read and listened on audiobook. "
— Tina, 1/1/2014Edith Wharton (1862–1937) is the author of the novels The Age of Innocence and Old New York, both of which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She was the first woman to receive that honor. In 1929 she was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction. She was born in New York and is best known for her stories of life among the upper-class society into which she was born. She was educated privately at home and in Europe. In 1894 she began writing fiction, and her novel The House of Mirth established her as a leading writer.
Barbara Caruso, winner of numerous Earphones Awards for narration, is an accomplished actress. A graduate of London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she was a featured player in the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has played starring roles on Broadway and in theaters across the country. She won the Alexander Scourby Reader of the Year Award for her performances of young adult fiction and has more than one hundred audiobook narrations to her credit.