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Cover of The Age of Innocence

Classic Fiction

The Age of Innocence

by Edith Wharton

Upper-class New York gentleman Newland Archer is set to wed May Welland in a picture-perfect union, until the bride’s disgraced cousin returns from overseas and threatens to draw his love away.

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First published
1920
Length
101,859 words
Reading time
About 7 hr 5 min
Language
English (UK)

About the book

Upper-class New York gentleman Newland Archer is set to wed May Welland in a picture-perfect union when the bride’s cousin, Ellen Olenska, returns from a failed marriage overseas. As Newland endeavors to help Countess Olenska be reinstated into the family’s good graces, his affections for her grow. Newland soon finds himself torn between his desire to conform to the society he knows and his new-found passion for the forbidden Countess.

The Age of Innocence was originally published in 1920 as a four-part series in Pictoral Review , then later that same year as Wharton’s twelfth novel. It went on to win the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the award.

First published 1920; the Read4Max reading text contains approximately 101,859 words arranged in 36 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

  • New York (N.Y.)
  • Love stories
  • Domestic fiction
  • Married people
  • Triangles (Interpersonal relations)
  • Separated people
  • Upper class

Table of contents

Open reader
Show all 36 sections
  1. Book I
  2. I
  3. II
  4. III
  5. IV
  6. V
  7. VI
  8. VII
  9. VIII
  10. IX
  11. X
  12. XI
  13. XII
  14. XIII
  15. XIV
  16. XV
  17. XVI
  18. XVII
  19. XVIII
  20. Book II
  21. XIX
  22. XX
  23. XXI
  24. XXII
  25. XXIII
  26. XXIV
  27. XXV
  28. XXVI
  29. XXVII
  30. XXVIII
  31. XXIX
  32. XXX
  33. XXXI
  34. XXXII
  35. XXXIII
  36. XXXIV
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Cover of Summer

Classic Fiction

Summer

Edith Wharton