The Age of Innocence

A young lawyer endures a moral struggle between passion and social conscience in Old New York. Edith Wharton's elegant portrait of desire and betrayal earned her the first Pulitzer Prize for literature ever awarded to a woman.

The New York Times Book Review - William Lyon Phelps

Here is a novel whose basis is a story. It begins on a night at the opera. The characters are introduced naturally—every action and every conversation advance the plot. The style is a thing of beauty from first page to last.... The appearance of a book such as The Age of Innocence is a matter for public rejoicing. It is one of the best novels of the twentieth century and looks like a permanent addition to literature.

One of America's most important novelists, Edith Wharton was a refined, relentless chronicler of the Gilded Age and its social mores. Along with close friend Henry James, she helped define literature at the turn of the 20th century, even as she wrote classic nonfiction on travel, decorating and her own life.