Edith Wharton’s superb satirical novel of the Jazz Age was a critically praised bestseller when it was first published in 1927.
Whether it is sex, drugs, or infatuation with the occult, Mrs. Manford and her extended family of socialites are determined to escape the pain, boredom, and emptiness of life through whatever form of “twilight sleep” they can devise or procure.
Far ahead of its time, this Wharton classic employed modernist techniques such as an ever-changing narration among the novel’s characters and a close examination of the characters’ self-identities and relationships with one another to tell a tale rich with irony and wit about the upper crust’s own undoing.
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“No one captures Old New York society like Edith Wharton, and no one could perform this satirical audiobook better than Carrington MacDuffie. With a gift for tone and a wide array of character voices…MacDuffie’s strong voice is a powerful guide throughout the text…leading listeners from scene to scene with verve.”
— AudioFile
“There are only three or four American novelists who can be thought of as ‘major’—and Edith Wharton is one.”
— Gore Vidal, American intellectual and New York Times bestselling author, praise for the authorBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Edith 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.
Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.