The Age of Innocence book cover

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The Age of Innocence

Author Edith Wharton
Retold by Clare West
Collection: Oxford Bookworms
Ratings
★★★☆☆ 3.52
Genre
Classics
Level
Level 5
CEFR
B2

Into the narrow social world of New York in the 1870s comes Countess Ellen Olenska, surrounded by shocked whispers about her failed marriage to a rich Polish Count. A woman who leaves her husband can never be accepted in polite society. Newland Archer is engaged to young May Welland, but the beautiful and mysterious Countess needs his help. He becomes her friend and defender, but friendship with an unhappy, lonely woman is a dangerous path for a young man to follow — especially a young man who is soon to be married.

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About the Author

Portrait of Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton

The Aristocrat Who Exposed the Gilded Cage

BornJanuary 24, 1862
DiedAugust 11, 1937
NationalityAmerican
GenreFiction

Edith Wharton was a distinguished American novelist, short story writer, and designer, renowned as one of the most insightful chroniclers of American high society during the Gilded Age. The first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, she critiqued the rigid social structures and limited roles available to women with sharp realism and wit.

A Privileged Yet Restrictive Upbringing

Born Edith Newbold Jones in 1862 into a wealthy and established New York family, Wharton was educated privately at home.

Finding Her Voice in Fiction

After an unhappy marriage and struggles with depression, Wharton began to write in earnest. Her major breakthrough came with The House of Mirth in 1905.

The Peak of Literary Achievement

Wharton reached the height of her literary powers with Ethan Frome in 1911 and The Age of Innocence in 1920, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize.

War Work and Later Years

During World War I, Wharton dedicated herself to humanitarian efforts in France and was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

A Lasting Literary and Cultural Influence

Edith Wharton died in France in 1937. Her legacy endures through her widely read novels and her significant contribution to architecture and interior design.