Literary Fiction · MelancholicA New York lawyer torn between his fiancee and her cousin in the 1870s
The Age of Innocence
A young lawyer's engagement is shaken by the arrival of his fiancee's cousin
The Age of Innocence is set in upper-class New York in the 1870s, during the Gilded Age. Newland Archer, a young lawyer from an established family, is engaged to the sheltered May Welland when her cousin Countess Ellen Olenska returns from Europe after separating from her husband. Archer's growing attraction to Ellen pulls him against the social expectations that shape his life.
More about this book
Who
Newland Archer, a young lawyer; May Welland, his fiancee; and Countess Ellen Olenska, May's cousin.
World
Upper-class New York City in the 1870s, the Gilded Age.
What makes it different
Wharton won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for it, the first awarded to a woman. Martin Scorsese directed a 1993 film that won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
Feel
Restrained and bittersweet, about manners and longing.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Wharton was 58 when the novel was published, and she had seen the world it depicts change dramatically by the end of World War I.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The Age of InnocenceWikipedia