The Age of Innocence | The Age of Innocence

At a glance:

Author: Edith Newbold Jones
First Published: 1920
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: Late nineteenth century
Setting: New York City
Principal Characters: Newland Archer, May Welland, Countess Ellen Olenska
Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Fiction of manners
Subjects: Values, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Love or romance, Nineteenth century, New York City, Social issues, Marriage, Social life, Obsession, Upper classes, Adultery, Divorce, Duty, Lawyers, Bohemianism, Gossip, Scandal, Peer pressure
Locales: New York, NY, Newport, RI

Newland Archer, a handsome and eligible young attorney engaged to lovely May Welland, learned that the engagement would be announced at a party to welcome his fiancée’s cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. This reception for Ellen constituted a heroic sacrifice on the part of the many Welland connections, for her marriage to a ne’er-do-well Polish count had not improved her position so far as rigorous and straitlaced New York society was concerned. The fact that she contemplated a divorce action also made her suspect, and, to cap it all, her rather bohemian way of...

The Age of Innocence | The Age of Innocence

At a glance:

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