A young couple's love is threatened by the destructive power of money, by one of the greatest authors of her age
In this beautiful novel, Edith Wharton perceptively describes the seductions and temptations of high society with all her trademark wit and irony.
Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young, attractive, but impoverished New Yorkers. They are in love and decide to marry, but they realise their chances of happiness are slim without the wealth and status that their more privileged friends take for granted.
Nick and Susy agree to separate whenever either encounters a more eligible proposition. However, as they honeymoon in friends' lavish houses, from a villa on Lake Como to a Venetian palace, jealous passions and troubled consciences cause the idyll to crumble.
"Wharton's unjustly neglected novel… a luscious, worldly, sensuous read, surely the equal of its most obvious offspring - Tender is the Night." - Boyd Tonkin, Independent
"This dark, beautifully-written and perceptive novel still feels fresh today." — The Lady
Edith Wharton was born in 1862 in New York, into a rich and socially prominent family. She began to write at an early age, although it was a habit viewed by her family as unsuitable for a woman of her social class. In 1885 she married Edward "Teddy" Wharton, a Boston banker. They lived a privileged life, but Wharton gradually grew dissatisfied with the roles of wife and society matron. The Whartons moved to Paris in 1907 and divorced in 1913. Edith continued to live in France, her beloved adoptive home, until her death in 1937.
A young couple's love is threatened by the destructive power of money, by one of the greatest authors of her age
In this beautiful novel, Edith Wharton perceptively describes the seductions and temptations of high society with all her trademark wit and irony.
Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young, attractive, but impoverished New Yorkers. They are in love and decide to marry, but they realise their chances of happiness are slim without the wealth and status that their more privileged friends take for granted.
Nick and Susy agree to separate whenever either encounters a more eligible proposition. However, as they honeymoon in friends' lavish houses, from a villa on Lake Como to a Venetian palace, jealous passions and troubled consciences cause the idyll to crumble.
Reviews
"Wharton's unjustly neglected novel… a luscious, worldly, sensuous read, surely the equal of its most obvious offspring - Tender is the Night." - Boyd Tonkin, Independent
"This dark, beautifully-written and perceptive novel still feels fresh today." — The Lady
Author
Edith Wharton was born in 1862 in New York, into a rich and socially prominent family. She began to write at an early age, although it was a habit viewed by her family as unsuitable for a woman of her social class. In 1885 she married Edward "Teddy" Wharton, a Boston banker. They lived a privileged life, but Wharton gradually grew dissatisfied with the roles of wife and society matron. The Whartons moved to Paris in 1907 and divorced in 1913. Edith continued to live in France, her beloved adoptive home, until her death in 1937.
