Book description
The return of the beautiful Countess Olenska into the rigidly
conventional society of New York sends reverberations throughout the
upper reaches of society.
Newland Archer, an eligible young man of the establishment is about
to announce his engagement to May Welland, a pretty ing nue, when
May's cousin, Countess Olenska, is introduced into their circle. The
Countess brings with her an aura of European sophistication and a hint
of scandal, having left her husband and claimed her independence.
Her sorrowful eyes, her tragic worldliness and her air of
unapproachability attract the sensitive Newland and, almost against
their will, a passionate bond develops between them. But Archer's life
has no place for passion and, with society on the side of May and all
she stands for, he finds himself drawn into a bitter conflict between
love and duty.
Edith Wharton was born Edith Newbold Jones on January 24, 1862,
during the American Civil War. Wharton published her first short story
in 1891; her first story collection, The Greater Inclination, in 1899; a
novella called The Touchstone in 1900; and her first novel, a historical
romance called The Valley of Decision, in 1902. The book that made
Wharton famous was The House of Mirth, published in 1905. She died in
1937.
