Showing results by author "Edith Wharton" in All Categories

In the dead gray cold of Starkfield, Massachusetts, farmer Ethan Frome is struggling to scrape out a living. His duties are to his wife, Zeena - an ungrateful, soul-sick hypochondriac as frigid as the New England winter. When Zeena’s cousin Mattie arrives to help with the farm, the ethereal, gentle-natured beauty brings a light and a fugitive affection into Ethan’s life. Yet for Ethan and Mattie, daring to be happy - and together - will have its consequences.

In this gem of a short story, Edith Wharton's talent for satire shines. Mrs. Ballinger and the ladies of the Lunch Club, that exclusive group dedicated to literature and erudition, are eagerly anticipating a visit by the noted novelist Osric Dane. Her books have been read by all the members except their newest, Mrs. Roby, whose idea of a perfect novel is one that entertains and preferably ends with marriage for the hero and heroine. It's painfully clear to Mrs. Ballinger and the others that Mrs. Roby is not on their intellectual plane.

Set in early 20th century New York, Edith Wharton's classic novel follows the changing fortunes of the beautiful Lily Bart, an impoverished socialite who relies on the kindness of rich friends to move in glamorous society. Lily and all her friends know that she must make a rich marriage to achieve financial security, but she is drawn to kindred spirit Lawrence Selden, a charming but decidedly middle-class lawyer. Will Lily survive in a world of predatory financiers and their ruthless wives?

More classic ghost stories from the golden age of spookiness. Eight stories by eight great writers, curated for your hair-raising pleasure. Edith Wharton, Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Company weave marvelous spells that whisk you into times and places you never thought you'd experience. Frightful and delightful.

Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort, is a compilation of articles Wharton wrote for Scribner’s Magazine and the Saturday Evening Post, reporting from the Western Front during WWI. Living in Paris, she was trapped in France when travel became impossible after Germany declared war and French mobilization began. She was one of a number of expatriate American writers living there, primarily women, who became involved in war charities during the opening months of the conflict, years before the United States abandoned its official policy of neutrality.

"What an incalculable sum of gifts and virtues went to make up the monster's daily meal." So observes American expatriate painter John Campton, whose only son is conscripted to military service in France at the beginning of WWI. In Edith Wharton's saga, A Son at the Front, we share the character's anguish as thousands of young men are sacrificed to the insatiable appetite of the war. The lessons are as relevant today as they were almost 100 years ago.

This collection of 10 classic tales is very representative of Wharton's approach to story-telling - in the narrative, the venue becomes a character almost as much as do the people. Situations are presented in an elegantly understated way, and the overall effect is disturbing rather than blatantly horrific.

Questo romanzo, con cui l'autrice vinse il premio Pulitzer nel 1921 (ed era la prima volta che una donna vinceva quel premio), parla della New York del 1870, della famosa Gilded Age. Ma dietro l'oro apparente, si nasconde la rete di convinzioni, tradizioni e ipocrisia che imprigiona il protagonista così inevitabilmente da renderlo egli stesso, col tempo, acquiescente alla propria prigionia.

Another collection of great classic novellas by superb storytellers, including Robert E. Howard, E. T. A. Hoffman, Edith Wharton, Bessie Kyffin-Taylor, F. Marion Crawford and more....

A bumper collection of classic ghost stories and strange supernatural tales.

Prudence Rutledge is terrified. She sits in her isolated New England farmhouse, fearing that her husband is stepping out on her. Seems like Saul has been seen down at the pond, meeting up with a young woman named Ora Brand. Trouble is, Ora Brand has been dead for over a year.

Wharton's grace with the language and her understanding of the human condition are beautifully presented in these stories that range from a mother's love for her son to a ghostly visitation. The stories included in this collection are "Sanctuary", "Afterward", "The Angel at the Grave", and "Souls Belated".

This is a complex and honest portrait of a simple country girl as she confronts her sexuality and the all-encompassing forces of maturity. Wharton's writing expresses the emotions of Charity Royall, her awakening to, and confusion about her first love as few other authors can.

Enduring stories that are as relevant today as they were when written at the turn of the century by influential women writers. This audio recording includes: "On the Divide" and "The Garden Lodge" by Willa Cather; "A Point at Issue", "Desiree's Baby", "A Pair of Silk Stockings", and "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin; "Three Thanksgivings" and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; and "The Pelican" and "The Fullness of Life" by Edith Wharton.

Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to Zeena, his older and ailing wife, Ethan Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of their youthful cousin, Mattie Silver, who becomes employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but also stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. However, their growing love for each other is discovered by the embittered Zeena, and it presages an ending to the tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic.

Edith Wharton tours the length of the front in World War I and describes in vivid detail the trenches, hospitals, and villages, Paris' valiant struggles to preserve her values, and the esprit de corps of the gallant French.

A captivating collection of 60-minute classic stories by great writers.

A gripping collection of classic stories in which the central figures are highly dangerous female characters - ranging from the creepy and unsettling to the utterly terrifying.

Wharton's genius is clearly demonstrated in the hilarious "Xingu" as well as the other tales included in this collection - "The Dilettante", "The Other Two", "April Showers", and "Copy".

Wharton's 1917 novella "Summer", like her more famous work "Ethan Frome", is set in a very small rural New England town. Charity Royall longs to escape the claustrophobic confines of North Dormer and the inappropriate advances of her guardian Mr. Royall, who adopted her as a child from the nearby Mountain community. Hope arrives in the form of city boy Lucius Harney, who has come to research the architecture of the region; but will his presence in Charity's life mean her salvation or her undoing?