The Old Maid

By Edith Wharton and Roxana Robinson

An unwed mother gives up her daughter so that the child can join New York City's fashionable society of the mid-1800s. Years later, on the eve of the girl's wedding, "Aunt" Charlotte's long-suppressed anguish surfaces.
Edith Wharton was a master of the novella form, and this tale of a mother's tragic sacrifice is one of her greatest contributions to the genre. It provides a fine example of her keen eye for observing and articulating the telling details of class and society. Available at last in a stand-alone edition, this enduringly popular story first appeared serialized in The Red Book Magazine in 1922 and later in an anthology. The basis for a successful Broadway show of the 1930s, it was later adapted into a popular film starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Dec 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9780486310718

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Having grown up in an upper-class, tightly controlled society known as “Old New York” at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage, Wharton broke through these strictures to become one of that society’s fiercest critics as well as one of America’s greatest writers. The author of more than 40 books in 40 years, Wharton’s oeuvre includes classic works of American literature such as The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence, and Ethan Frome, as well as authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel.