Tales of Men and Ghosts

Edith Wharton

In 1921, Edith Wharton became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, earning the award for The Age of Innocence. But Wharton also wrote several other novels, as well as poems and short stories that made her not only famous but popular among her contemporaries. Tales of Men and Ghosts (1910) consists of ten masterful ghost stories that listed here in chronological order of their original publication dates: The Bolted Door, His Fathers Son, The Daunt Diana, The Debt, Full Circle, The Legend, The Eyes, The Blond Beast, Afterward and The Letters. Despite the title, the men outnumber the ghosts, since only The Eyes and Afterward actually call on the supernatural. In only two of the stories are women the central characters, though elsewhere they play important roles. If you have never read Edith Whartons fantasy work before, you will be captivated and delighted.

The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

One of Edith Whartons most famous novels the first by a woman to win the Pulitzer Prize exquisitely details a tragic struggle between love and responsibility during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people dreaded scandal more than disease. Newland Archer, a restrained young attorney, is engaged to the lovely May Welland but falls in love with Mays beautiful and unconventional cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska who returns to New York after a disastrous marriage to a Polish count. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life or mercilessly destroy it. An incisive look at the ways desire and emotion must negotiate the complex rules of society, The Age of Innocence is one of Whartons most moving works.

The Custom of the Country

Edith Wharton

Edith Whartons 1913 novel is a devastating critique of American upward mobility, told through the journey of Undine Spragg from fictional Midwestern Apex City to New York to Paris. Undine Spragg is one of the most ruthless characters in all of literature, as selfishly unscrupulous as she is fiercely beautiful. As Undine climbs the social ladder through a series of marriages and affairs, she shows little concern for who she has to step on to get anything and everything she desires. Wharton weaves an elaborate plot that renders a detailed depiction of upper class social behavior in the early twentieth century. By utilizing a character with inexorable greed in a novel of manners, she demonstrates some of the customs of a modern age and posits a surprising explanation for divorce and the social role of women, which still resonates for the modern reader today.

The Descent of Man and Other Stories

Edith Wharton

The Descent of Man and Other Stories is the third collection of ten short fiction from Edith Wharton, first published in 1904. It includes the title piece Descent of Man, as well as The Other Two, Expiation, The Ladys Maids Bell, The Mission of Jane, The Reckoning, The Letter, The Dilettante, The Quicksand, and A Venetian Nights Entertainment. Wharton dissecting some of the customs, habits and vagaries of courtship and marriage, particularly as practiced in the upper reaches of New York society at the turn of the twentieth century. Fidelity is only one problem; others may arise from the machinations and emotions of the protagonists or outsiders. Wharton handles the questions with her usual gentle irony and curiosity about human behavior.

The Fruit of the Tree

Edith Wharton

Published in 1907, this little novel by the author of The Age of Innocence was considered controversial for its frank treatment of labor and industrial conditions, drug addiction, mercy killing, divorce, and second marriages. Clever, idealistic and poor John Amherst, the assistant manager of the cotton mill, is fed up with the deplorable working and living conditions of the workers in his charge. While visiting a worker in hospital he encounters a young nurse, Justine, compassionate and principled, a woman who shares his dreams and aims. But Amherst is fatally distracted when he meets a wealthy and charming widow Bessy who is a new owner of the mill. The lives of all three become strangely interwoven as Amherst is forced to choose between sense and sentiment, between his care for the working classes and his infatuation with Bessy a woman made for passion, but not for its aftermath.

The Glimpses of the Moon

Edith Wharton

Set in the 1920s, Glimpses of the Moon details the romantic misadventures of Nick Lansing and Susy Branch, a couple with the right connections but not much in the way of funds. They are in love and decide to marry, but realize their chances of happiness are slim without the wealth and society that their more privileged friends take for granted. Nick and Susy agree to separate when either encounters a more eligible proposition. Their conditional marriage begins to falter as Susy grows jealous of her husbands attentions to a wealthy young woman and Nick becomes increasingly disgruntled by the moral compromises arising from his wifes social negotiations. An expertly drawn portrait of two young lovers, caught between bright-eyed passion and the bitter allure of wealth.

The Greater Inclination

Edith Wharton

This is Edith Whartons earliest published collection of 8 short stories (1899). A selection consists: Muses Tragedy: Unrequited love between a poet and his muse. The Journey: A woman journeys with her ailing husband. The Pelican: A woman supports her son. Souls Belated: The pressure put on couples to marry. A Coward: A man recounts his cowardice past. The Twilight of the God: Past lovers meet under a husbands eye. A Cup of Cold Water: Redemption song. The Portrait: One of Whartons earliest short stories, when a painter paints your flaws. Like much of Whartons later work, they touch on themes of marriage, male/female relationships, New York society, and the nature and purpose of art. Give yourselves a treat, and read this short but unforgettable diverse collection!

The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories

Edith Wharton

Seven short stories from the prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist Edith Wharton. With a wide variety of protagonists a cloistered monk to a struggling artist to a Governor to a New England lawyers wife she is flexing her writing muscles and trying on personas. Includes The Last Asset, In Trust, The Pretext, The Verdict, The Pot-Boiler, and The Best Man. In the title story, the reader learns that the hermit, as a young boy, witnessed the killing of his parents and sister during an attack on his town. As a result of his trauma, he has retreated into isolation until he meets a wild woman who comes to live nearby. Highly recommended when you want something short but stimulating between longer reads!