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Cover of Summer

Classic Fiction

Summer

by Edith Wharton

A young woman has resigned to life in a stifling small town until a visiting stranger hints at a wider world of possibilities.

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First published
1917
Length
57,491 words
Reading time
About 4 hr
Language
English (US)

About the book

Edith Wharton’s controversial novel Summer is the story of Charity Royall, an ambitious young woman trapped in a stifling small town by both her gender and her social class. When a visiting stranger arrives in town, Charity is awakened to a wider world of possibilities and to the realities that constrain her.

Published in 1917, the novel was both attacked and ignored for openly acknowledging female sexuality and its many inequities. Later generations of critics have come to regard the book as an important turning point in Wharton’s work and a spiritual companion to her classic novel, Ethan Frome .

First published 1917; the Read4Max reading text contains approximately 57,491 words arranged in 18 navigable sections.

About the author

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) is described by Wikidata as American writer and designer (1862–1937), with citizenship or national association recorded as United States.

Recorded occupations include writer, novelist, poet, translator, prose writer, and art historian. Languages recorded for Edith Wharton include English. Wikidata lists The Mount, The Age of Innocence, The Touchstone, The House of Mirth, The Reef, and The Custom of the Country among Edith Wharton's notable works. Open Library identifies Ethan Frome as a leading work in its author record. Open Library catalogs 1934 works under this author record. The Read4Max catalog currently includes Ethan Frome, Hudson River Bracketed, Summer, The Age of Innocence, and The House of Mirth under Edith Wharton's authorship.

1862–1937

Reading options

  • A complete text with direct section navigation in the browser reader.
  • A downloadable EPUB for phones, tablets, desktop reading apps, and compatible ereaders.
  • Book and contributor metadata are checked against the source edition before indexing.

Themes and ideas

  • Young women
  • Love stories
  • Guardian and ward
  • Man-woman relationships
  • Berkshire Hills (Mass.)

Table of contents

Open reader
Show all 18 sections
  1. I
  2. II
  3. III
  4. IV
  5. V
  6. VI
  7. VII
  8. VIII
  9. IX
  10. X
  11. XI
  12. XII
  13. XIII
  14. XIV
  15. XV
  16. XVI
  17. XVII
  18. XVIII
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