The Age of Innocence

Beschrijving

The intelligent and charming Newland Archer a member of one of New York’s most prominent families is living the life that has always been expected of him: he is engaged to the beautiful and well-connected May Welland and understands the rarefied world of Fifth Avenue society inside out. However, with the arrival of May’s cousin, the free-spirited and unconventional Countess Ellen Olenska, Newland begins to doubt all that once seemed so natural to him.An extraordinarily well-observed dissection of New York high society in the 1870s the world in which Edith Wharton grew up The Age of Innocence shines a critical light on the social mores and values of the old order.

Beschrijving

Upper-class New York gentleman Newland Archer is set to wed May Welland in a picture-perfect union when the bride’s cousin, Ellen Olenska, returns from a failed marriage overseas. As Newland endeavors to help Countess Olenska be reinstated into the family’s good graces, his affections for her grow. Newland soon finds himself torn between his desire to conform to the society he knows and his new-found passion for the forbidden Countess.

The Age of Innocence was originally published in 1920 as a four-part series in Pictoral Review, then later that same year as Wharton’s twelfth novel. It went on to win the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the award.

Perfect for readers who love sweeping historical romances set against the backdrop of America’s Gilded Age, this Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece delivers both passionate forbidden love and razor-sharp social commentary. Wharton’s exquisite prose and unforgettable characters make this timeless tale of desire versus duty an essential read for anyone captivated by the glittering yet suffocating world of New York’s elite.

The source for this public-domain ebook is Standard Ebooks (standardebooks.org). Ebooks from other sources often have typos, inconsistent spelling, missing accent marks, and missing punctuation. Ebooks from Standard Ebooks are proofread line by line against a scan of the original printed pages, then proofread again from cover to cover. They are also formatted and typeset following a professional-grade style manual, resulting in new editions supporting state-of-the-art ereader technology: automatic hyphenation, popup footnotes, complete and consistent metadata, high-resolution and scalable vector graphics, and ereader-compatible tables of contents. All of this makes the finished ebooks accurate, functional, and beautiful, a pleasure to read. (Waking Lion Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by Standard Ebooks.)

Beschrijving

Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence explores the tension between personal longing and strict social expectations in 1870s New York. Newland Archer, poised to marry the perfect society bride, finds his world transformed when he meets the unconventional Countess Olenska, whose independence challenges everything he once believed.
This restored edition preserves Wharton’s elegant prose and nuanced character study while offering a clean, modern reading experience. A masterpiece of emotional restraint and subtle rebellion, the novel exposes the quiet conflicts beneath polished surfaces.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and long recognized as one of America’s greatest novels, it continues to resonate with readers drawn to its depth, beauty, and timeless insight.
Add this unforgettable story of love, sacrifice, and societal constraint to your library today.