Edith Wharton: The Age of Innocence

The story of Newland Archer, Ellen Olenska and May Welland is set against the backdrop of Fifth Avenue, in the salons of the New York aristocracy, where strict and seemingly unchangeable rules reign. But the liberal twentieth century is already knocking on the door, and Newland Archer is a perceptive young man. While May belongs to the old familiar world, where nothing can surprise anyone anymore and any attempt to break strict conventions is punished with punishment, Ellen is an ambassador of a new age, where a woman is not just a tag-along for her man. If Newland connects his future with May, he knows exactly what's in store for him. If he chooses Ellen, every day will be different. May or Ellen? And does he even have a free choice? The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton's twelfth novel, published in four installments in the Pictorial Review in 1920 and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for it a year later.