The Old Maid (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Edith Newbold Jones
- First Published: 1924
- Type of Work: Novella
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: 1850’s
- Setting: New York
- Principal Characters: Delia Ralston, James Ralston, Charlotte Lovell, Joe Ralston, Tina Lovell
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Children, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, Nineteenth century, New York City, Marriage, Class consciousness, Adoption or adopted children, Single people, Loneliness, Orphans or orphanages, Weddings
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story:
Among the leading families in New York in the 1850’s, none was more correct or more highly regarded than the Ralstons. Their ancestors had come to America not for religious freedom but for wealth. By the time Delia Lovell married James Ralston, the Ralstons considered themselves the ruling class, and all their thoughts and actions were dictated by convention. They shunned new ideas as they did strange people, and the sons and daughters of the numerous branches of the family married only the sons and daughters of similar good families.
Delia was conventional...
[The entire page is 2479 words long]
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