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(0)Edith Wharton
Author
Series
Publication Date
1920
Lexile Measure
1170L
Summary
"As the scion of one of New York's leading families, Newland Archer has been born into a life of sumptuous privilege and strict duty. Sensitive and intelligent, he respects the rigid social codes of his class, and is thankful that his forthcoming marriage to May Welland is to 'one of his own kind'. But the arrival of the Countess Olenska, a free spirit who breathes clouds of European sophistication, makes him question the path on which his upbringing...
2) Ethan Frome
Author
Publication Date
1911
Lexile Measure
1090L
Summary
A marked departure from Edith Wharton's usual ironic contemplation of the fashionable New York society to which she herself belonged, Ethan Frome is a sharply etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century New England village. The protagonist, Ethan Frome, is a man tormented by a passionate love for his ailing wife's young cousin. Trapped by the bonds of marriage and the fear of public condemnation, he is ultimately destroyed by...
4) Summer
Author
Publication Date
1917
Summary
First published in 1917, "Summer" is one of only two novels by Edith Wharton not set in the upper-class society of New York. It is instead set in New England and was very controversial at the time it was published as it is the story of the sexual awakening of a young woman, named Charity Royall. Charity, the daughter of mountain moonshiners, was abandoned by her poor parents and adopted by her small town's most learned person, Lawyer Royall. Charity...
Author
Publication Date
1913
Summary
Undine Spragg is a beautiful and ambitious, yet vain and socially dense young woman with dreams of marrying a rich man. Hoping for a life of prominence and luxury, Undine convinces her family to relocate to New York. The Spragg family, who have earned their modest wealth from shady practices, are happy to accommodate Undine's request. When Undine meets Ralph Marvell, an aspiring poet from a family of old New York high society, she is determined to...
Author
Publication Date
1922
Summary
Susy Branch and Nick Lansing are typical Wharton heroes: popular, attractive, and much poorer than their "international set" friends. Like Lily Bart in The House of Mirth, the two depend on the largesse of more privileged acquaintances to get by. Recognizing in each other a desire for the finer things in life, they decide to get married and, knowing that their friends will happily provide fabulous accommodations, live rent-free on an extended honeymoon...
7) The reef
Author
Publication Date
1912
Lexile Measure
1090L
Summary
American lady in France discovers that the man she is about to marry has had an affair with her daughter's governess.
10) Sanctuary
Author
Publication Date
2001
Summary
The third of Wharton's published works, Sanctuary' is a generational tale of love, education, secrecy, blame, and moral responsibility. Setting the template for films such as 'Minority Report,' starring Tom Cruise, 'Sanctuary' begs the question of whether it is right to pre-empt and act upon moral crimes that are yet to happen. When Kate discovers that her fiancée hides a terrible secret, will she leave him or see the wedding through? A thought-provoking...
11) The buccaneers
Author
Publication Date
1938
Summary
Edith Wharton's spellbinding final novel tells a story of love in the gilded age that crosses the boundaries of society—now an original series on AppleTV+!
“Brave, lively, engaging...a fairy-tale novel, miraculouly returned to life.”—The New York Times Book Review
Set in the 1870s, the same period as Wharton's The Age of Innocence, The Buccaneers is about five wealthy American girls...
“Brave, lively, engaging...a fairy-tale novel, miraculouly returned to life.”—The New York Times Book Review
Set in the 1870s, the same period as Wharton's The Age of Innocence, The Buccaneers is about five wealthy American girls...
12) Old New York
Author
Series
Publication Date
[1964, c1952]
Summary
First published in 1924, "Old New York" is a collection of four short stories set in the New York of the 1840s, 50s, 60s, and 70s by American author Edith Wharton. These stories are often considered a companion to Wharton's celebrated novel "The Age of Innocence", as many of the same characters and settings appear. "Old New York" is Wharton at her best as she explores the social issues that were often at the center of her works: infidelity, the class...
