The Age of Innocence (Unabriged)

By Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The Age of Innocence centers on an upper-class couple's impending marriage, and the introduction of a woman plagued by scandal whose presence threatens their happiness. Though the novel questions the assumptions and morals of 1870s New York society, it never devolves into an outright condemnation of the institution. In fact, Wharton considered this novel an "apology" for her earlier novel, The House of Mirth, which was more brutal and critical.

The novel is noted for Wharton's attention to detail regarding the way of life of the upper caste. The novel is lauded for its accurate portrayal of how the 19th-century East Coast American upper class lived,and this, combined with the social tragedy, earned Wharton a Pulitzer Prize—the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman. Edith Wharton was 58 years old at publication; she had lived in that world and had seen it change dramatically by the end of World War I.The title is an ironic comment on the polished outward manners of New York society when compared to its inward machinations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Jun 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9783736802841

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton was born in 1862 to a prominent and wealthy New York family. In 1885 she married Boston socialite 'Teddy' Wharton but the marriage was unhappy and they divorced in 1913. The couple travelled frequently to Europe and settled in France, where Wharton stayed until her death in 1937. Her first major novel was The House of Mirth (1905); many short stories, travel books, memoirs and novels followed, including Ethan Frome (1911) and The Reef (1912). She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature with The Age of Innocence (1920) and she was thrice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was also decorated for her humanitarian work during the First World War.