Books by edith wharton

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP Set against the bleak winter landscape of New England, Ethan Frome tells the story of a poor farmer, lonely and downtrodden, his wife Zeena, and her cousin, the enchanting Mattie Silver. In the playing out of this short novel's powerful and engrossing drama, Edith Wharton constructed her least characteristic and most celebrated book. ... ...Read More »

The four novellas collected here, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Age of Innocence, brilliantly capture New York of the 1840s, '50s, '60s, and '70s. Originally published in 1924, this outstanding quartet includes False Dawn, about a rocky father/son relationship; The Old Maid, the best known of the four, in which a young woman's hidden illegitimate child is adoted by her best friend, ... ...Read More »

A Pulitzer Prize-winning classic follows Newland Archer, a young man who, despite his engagement to a beautiful socialite, is passionately drawn to the Countess Ellen Olenska, and includes biographical and historical data. Reprint. NYT. ,Somewhere in this book, Wharton observes that clever liars always come up with good stories to back up their fabrications, but that really clever liars do... ...Read More »

The child of mountain moonshiners, Charity Royall enjoys an affair with an educated young man from the city, but feels separated from the larger world by her drunken guardian and the overwhelming pressures of environment and heredity. Reissue. ...Read More »

First published in 1913, Edith Wharton"s The Custom of the Country is a scathing novel of ambition featuring one of the most ruthless heroines in literature. Undine Spragg is as unscrupulous as she is magnetically beautiful. Her rise to the top of New York"s high society from the nouveau riche provides a provocative commentary on the upwardly mobile and the aspirations that eventually cause their ... ...Read More »

Deeply moving study of the tyrannical and rigid requirements of New York high society in the late 19th century and the effect of those strictures on the lives of three people. Vividly characterized drama of affection thwarted by a man"s sense of honor, family, and societal pressures. A long-time favorite with readers and critics alike.,Somewhere in this book, Wharton observes that clever liars al... ...Read More »

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: FLORENTINE VILLAS OR centuries Florence has been celebrated for her villa-clad hills. According to an old chronicler, the country houses were more splendid than those in the town, and stood so close-set among their... ...Read More »

Wharton"s glittering satire of the newly affluent in Old New York Considered by many to be her masterpiece, Edith Wharton"s second full-length work is a scathing yet personal examination of the exploits and follies of the modern upper class. As she unfolds the story of Undine Spragg, from New York to Europe, Wharton affords us a detailed glimpse of what might be called the interior déco... ...Read More »

Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeenie. But when Zeenie"s vivacious cousin enters their household as a "hired girl," Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent. In one of American fiction"s finest and most intense narra... ...Read More »

Best known for her novels depicting the stifling conformity and ceremoniousness of the upper-class New York society into which she was born, Edith Wharton also wrote brilliantly in many genres: essays, travel pieces, memoirs, and a variety of short stories. This unique collection provides a fresh look at Wharton's genius by including a generous sampling of her short stories, along with nonfiction,... ...Read More »

The perfect marriage between the wealthy, worldly Newland Archer and the beautiful and docile May Welland is threatened by the arrival from Europe of May's cousin, the fascinating Countess Olenska. Read by Kerry Shale. Book available.,Somewhere in this book, Wharton observes that clever liars always come up with good stories to back up their fabrications, but that really clever liars don't... ...Read More »

Wharton's acclaimed portrayals of life, love, and marriage among New York's wealthy society in the early years of this century depict with subtle irony the cruelties of social conventions and the contradictions between monetary values and moral values. These three novels are the best representations of Wharton's intuitive insight. ...Read More »

Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novel of passion and desire. The beautiful Countess Ellen Olenska, fleeing her brutish husband, returns from Europe to the upper-class world of Old New York in the 1870s. Her rebellious independence and impulsive awareness of life stir the educated sensitivity of Newland Archer, already engaged to marry Ellen's cousin. "(Wharton's) best book."-- The New Yor... ...Read More »

Anna, an American widow living in France, has renewed her relationship with her first love, diplomat George Darrow. But on his way to her chateau, where he hopes to consolidate their marriage plans, Darrow encounters Sophy, who is as vibrant and spontaneous as Anna is reserved and restrained. ...Read More »

From the esteemed author of The Age of Innocence--a black comedy about vast wealth and a woman who can define herself only through the perceptions of others. Lily Bart's quest to find a husband who can satisfy her cravings for endless admiration and all the trappings of the rich comes to a scandalous end when she is accused of being a wealthy man's mistress. (Literature/Classics),"The heart of the... ...Read More »

A tale of forbidden sexual passion and thwarted dreams played out against the lush, summer backdrop of the Massachusetts Berkshires Edith Wharton called "Summer" her 'hot Ethan'. In their rural settings and their poor, uneducated protagonists, "Summer" (1916) and "Ethan Frome" represent a sharp departure from Wharton's familiar depictions of the urban upper class. Charity Royall lives unhappily wi... ...Read More »

Contains 20 short stories which dramatize the topics that compelled Wharton throughout her career - both comedies of manners and social tragedies, they reflect on marriage, money, romantic delusion, integrity and the crossroads between life, death and art. Also includes ghost stories. ...Read More »

Mrs and Mrs Spragg are hoping to forge an entree into society and arrange a suitably ambitious match for their only daughter. As she unfolds the story of Undine Spragg, from New York to Europe, the author offers a detailed glimpse of upper-class America. ...Read More »

Edith Wharton's novel reworks the eternal triangle of two women and a man in a strikingly original manner. When about to marry the beautiful and conventional May Welland, Newland Archer falls in love with her very unconventional cousin, the Countess Olenska. The consequent drama, set in New York during the 1870s, reveals terrifying chasms under the polished surface of upper-class society as the in... ...Read More »