Books like A backward glance by Edith Wharton

In post‑war New York, Newland Archer faces a dilemma when his fiancée’s cousin, the rebellious Ellen Olenska, challenges his elite society’s expectations and his own loyalty.

In wintry Starkfield, Massachusetts, disabled farmer Ethan Frome is trapped in a loveless marriage to Zeena while his unrequited love for Zeena’s cousin Mattie drives a desperate, tragic triangle that culminates in a failed attempt to escape together.

In Edith Wharton’s classic, Lily Bart, a beautiful and intelligent young woman devoted to luxury, struggles to navigate New York’s strict social hierarchy and moral expectations, ultimately confronting the limits of her independence.

Summer is a 1917 American novel by Edith Wharton that explores a young woman's sexual awakening amid New England society.

Posthumously published, Hemingway’s *A Moveable Feast* is a memoir of his Paris years in the 1920s, detailing his early career, intimate relationships, and encounters with other literary figures of the Lost Generation.

Joan Didion chronicles the sudden loss of her husband and daughter, exploring grief, memory, and the complex bonds that bind family and life. An intimate memoir that examines mourning and the ritual of remembrance.

Edith Wharton's debut novella follows Stephen Glennard, a down-on-his-luck journalist who finds fortune by selling love letters written to him by the famed author Margaret Aubyn, reshaping his marriage, ambitions, and sense of betrayal.

Shalom Auslander’s memoir, *Foreskin's Lament*, chronicles his turbulent youth in an isolated Orthodox community, his rebellion—including a reform‑school exile in Israel—and his ongoing struggle to reconcile faith, law, and personal freedom.

The Old Maid follows young Tina as she navigates family ties and social expectations in 1920s New York, culminating in a marriage that exposes hidden tensions between her adopted mother Delia and her birth‑aunt Charlotte.

Better known for her five volume portrait of English rural life, Our Village, Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855) was one of the most prolific female writers of her day. Part critical essay, part autobiography, Recollections consists of a series of sketches on and selections from Mitford's favourite authors, stemming from her desire 'to make others relish a few favourite writers as heartily as I have relished them myself'. The collection is arranged according to Mitford's own eclectic system of categorization including 'fashionable poets', 'cavalier poets', and 'poetry that poets love'. Mitford wears her immense literary skill lightly and Recollections is masterfully written, full of lively wit and fascinating biographical detail. Published just three years before Mitford's death, it was based on earlier articles and letters. Authors included range from Chaucer to Sir Walter Scott and Mitford's friend Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

A curated selection of Edith Wharton’s short stories, portraying the manners, social customs, and everyday life of New York’s upper class through vivid, character-driven vignettes.

The Reef follows American diplomat George Darrow as he navigates an illicit affair with widow Anna Leath while in France, exposing the moral contradictions of early 20th‑century society.

From Hermione Lee, the internationally acclaimed, award-winning biographer of Virginia Woolf and Willa Cather, comes a superb reexamination of one of the most famous American women of letters.Delving into heretofore untapped sources, Lee does away with the image of the snobbish bluestocking and gives us a new Edith Wharton-tough, startlingly modern, as brilliant and complex as her fiction. Born into a wealthy family, Wharton left America as an adult and eventually chose to create a life in France. Her renowned novels and stories have become classics of American literature, but as Lee shows, Wharton's own life, filled with success and scandal, was as intriguing as those of her heroines. Bridging two centuries and two very different sensibilities, Wharton here comes to life in the skillful hands of one of the great literary biographers of our time.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A poignant memoir about a child's acceptance of her uncertain past and a life adrift in modern America.

Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Black Novelist, Folklorist, and Anthropologist

Letters from a confinée: The Correspondence of Flannery O'Connor

Hemingway’s classic memoir of 1920s Paris, detailing his early years, friendships with expatriates, and first‑hand accounts of the city’s post‑war exuberance.