Books like Age of Innocence Illustrated 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.

A young governess in a remote estate discovers that the souls of two children are threatened by the malevolent ghosts of a former governess and her lover.

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.

A charming novel of Regency manners and mores, Lady Susan Vernon seeks an advantageous second marriage and attempts to force her daughter into a dismal match.

Edith Wharton's satiric anatomy of American society in the first decade of the twentieth century appeared in 1913; it both appalled and fascinated its first reviewers, and established her as a major novelist. It follows the career of Undine Spragg, recently arrived in New York from the Midwest and determined to conquer high society. Glamorous, selfish, mercenary, and manipulative, her principal assets are her striking beauty, her tenacity, and her father's money. With her sights set on an advantageous marriage, Undine pursues her schemes in a world of shifting values, where triumph is swiftly followed by disillusion. Wharton was re-creating an environment she knew intimately, and Undine's education for social success is chronicled in meticulous detail. The novel superbly captures the world of post-Civil War Ameria, as ruthless in its social ambitions as in its business and politics. - Back cover.

Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence has captivated generations of American readers since it won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Subtle, ironic, and superbly crafted, Wharton's masterwork is a vivid portrait of late-19th-century New York society. The author's keen observations of the restrictive social mores and the position of women in 19th-century America is underscored by the compelling tale of one man's inability to achieve true happiness with the woman he loves. The novel's popularity endures as the story captures the reader's imagination with the sheer romance of the complicated, yet realistic portrayal of the marriage of Newland Archer to May Welland, and of his love for May's cousin, Ellen Olenska. In this volume - the first devoted exclusively to The Age of Innocence - Linda Wagner-Martin not only examines the historical and social influences of Wharton's time, but also incorporates extended analyses of the novel itself. Wagner-Martin devotes a chapter to each of the principal characters and considers the story from each character's distinctive viewpoint. She also considers The Age of Innocence from several literary perspectives - as a "novel of manners," as a "traditional" novel, and as a "modern" novel. Wagner-Martin traces the critical response to The Age of Innocence, from publication to the present, and examines the novel's importance in the American literary canon. A chronology of Wharton's life and literary career and an extensive bibliography further enhance this study. The combination of Wagner-Martin's sophisticated and wide-ranging critical perspective and impeccable scholarship makes The Age of Innocence: A Novel of Ironic Nostalgia an invaluable reference.

A Little Princess is a classic tale of a young girl's experiences at boarding school.