The Age of Innocence

Edith WhartonΓÇÖs masterpiece brings to life the grandeur and hypocrisy of a gilded age. Set among the very rich in 1870s New York,it tells the story of Newland Archera young lawyer engaged to marry virginal socialite May Wellandwhen he meets her cousinCountess Ellen Olenskaa woman unbound by convention and surrounded by scandal. As all three are drawn into a love triangle filled with sensualitysubtletyand betrayalArcher faces a harrowing choice between happiness and the social code that has ruled his life. The resulting tale of thwarted love is filled with irony and surprisestruggle and acceptance. Recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction ever awarded to a womanthis great novel paints a timeless portrait of ΓÇ£societyΓÇ¥ still unmatched in American literatureΓÇöan arbitrarycapricious social elite that professes inviolable standards but readily abandons them for greed and desire.