Showing results by author "Edith Wharton" in All Categories

Author Edith Wharton is best known for her books set amongst the upper-echelon of New York society, including "The House of Mirth" and "The Age of Innocence," (the latter of which won her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction). But Wharton also wrote two American classics that take place in rural settings: the then-scandalous tale of youthful rebellion,"Summer" and her haunting novel of love and regret, "Ethan Frome." Both have gone on to be considered among the finest novels of the early 20th century.

"Summer" is one of only two novels Edith Wharton wrote that takes place in a rural setting (the other being her classic "Ethan Frome.") Given the subject matter (and the behavior of its lead character), the book was considered scandalous in its day, but it is now considered a classic of early 20th century American literature. The story follows the life and sexual awakening of Charity Royall, a young girl living in a small town who has dreams of moving out of her poverty-stricken community.

The novel is about New York City society in its best years through the life of a beautiful girl who is an outside insider with a foot in and several feet outside the inner circle.

Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with this 1920 novel about Old New York society. Newland Archer is wealthy, well-bred, and engaged to the beautiful May Welland. But he finds himself drawn to May's cousin Ellen Olenska, who has been living in Europe and who has returned following a scandalous separation from her husband.

The American Classics Collection: Volume II is a century-spanning collection of 15 classic novels, short stories, essay, and poetry by American authors, read by a cast of incredible narrators including Adam Sims; Nathan Osgood; Robert G. Slade; Jonathan Keeble, Katherine Fenton; and more. Included here are stories by some of the greatest writers of all time, including Herman Melville; Upton Sinclair; Mark Twain; Walt Whitman; F. Scott Fitzgerald; Thornton Wilder; Edith Wharton; Jack London; amongst a host of others.

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.

Summer, set in New England, is a novel by Edith Wharton, published in 1917. The novel details the sexual awakening of its protagonist, 18-year-old, Charity Royall, and her cruel treatment by the father of her child. Only moderately well-received when originally published, Summer, has had a resurgence in critical popularity since the 1960s.

Having been born into a life of wealth and privilege, Edith Wharton was part of the small clique of aristocratic families that held sway over New York City's social and cultural life at the turn of the nineteenth century. In The Age of Innocence, Wharton looks back fondly on the life that was enjoyed by the privileged class of the East Coast before the many changes wrought by World War I.

Single woman of 29, Lily Bart is Edith Wharton's quintessential trapped heroine. Orphaned following the death of her parents, Lily understands that she must use her beauty, grace, and charm to attain the social position she longs for, but she is caught between her desire for wealth and a strong moral conscience, which sabotages every opportunity she encounters.

Because it defines human existence, love is one of art's favorite subjects. Timeless Love: Poems, Stories, and Letters celebrates the mysterious nature of love and passion by bringing together classic works by beloved writers through the ages. Including stories, poems, and letters from Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barret Browning, John Keats, Edith Wharton, and more, this collection explores how each love is singular - yet love itself is universal.

In A Motor Flight through France, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton invites listeners on an extraordinary journey through the French countryside at the dawn of the motor age. Based on her 1906 road trip—an ambitious endeavor at a time when automobiles were still a novelty—Wharton’s account captures the thrill of early travel by car and the unparalleled freedom it offered to the adventurous traveler.

Unlike the other arts, American literature has been a powerful, influential, and leading aspect of American culture. By turns sedate and mercurial and possessing a moral mind set of various social values, the American short story reveals in its pages the psyche of a growing, sprawling nation whose sense of destiny has always been larger than life. Here are seven masterpieces that will make you smile, make you frown, and leave you pondering the mystery that surrounds the soul of a great nation.

The Age of Innocence was first published in 1920 by American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the 1870s, in upper-class "Gilded Age" New York City.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. 'The Lady's Maid's Bell' is a classic ghost story about Alice Hartley, a servant who takes up a new position in a remote country house as companion to an invalid lady. Almost immediately she realises that there is something not quite right in the house.

A rich anthology of classic tales of ghosts and the supernatural written by women. 'The Operation' by Violet Hunt; 'On the Northern Ice' by Elia W. Peattie; 'Afterward' by Edith Wharton; T'he Missing Model' by Lettice Galbraith; 'The Cold Embrace' by Mary E. Braddon; 'Room Number Ten' by Bessie Kyffin-Taylor; 'Pomegranate Seed' by Edith Wharton; 'Mrs. Raeburn's Waxwork' by Eleanor Smith; 'The Mystery of the Semi-Detached' by Edith Nesbit.

Edith Wharton's novel The House of Mirth follows the social ups and downs of Lily Bart, who is a very attractive woman about to turn 30. At the beginning of the book, she is slated to marry Percy Gryce, seeing as he fits the exact description of the type of bachelor that she is looking for: wealthy and predictable. Yet through a series of missteps, Lily loses her chance with Percy, and must therefore spend some time trying to regain her social standing.

Lily Bart enjoys an equitable standing within the New York City elite. Although she desires a comfortable life and has received generous proposals from wealthy suitors, Lily remains single with hope for an honest and loving marriage. However, her life takes an unexpected twist when a nasty bit of gossip instigates her long descent down the social ladder. With her reputation plummeting, Lily escapes the city by joining an acquaintance on a European cruise.

The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 6 is an exciting addition to this series, featuring the most acclaimed writers, past and present. This unique collection of master writers, including Wilkie Collins, Aldous Huxley, and Edith Wharton, edited by multi-award winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, is a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.

Newland Archer is about to announce his engagement to the docile May Welland when he meets her cousin, the mysterious, nonconformist Countess Ellen Olenska. Edith Wharton's elegant portrait of desire and betrayal in Old New York earned her the first Pulitzer Prize for literature ever awarded to a woman.

A ghostly presence in “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” desires revenge against a tyrannical husband. In “Mr. Jones”, Lady Jane Lynke inherits an estate unexpectedly, and can’t make sense of how to manage the servants - especially since the caretaker has been dead for decades, but keeps giving orders. Meanwhile, in “Afterward”, a newly wealthy American couple moves into a large, isolated house in southern England complete with a ghost...and the mysteries surrounding the husband’s business are slowly uncovered.