The Age of Innocence

Review "Is it--in this world--vulgar to ask for more? To entreat a little wildness, a dark place or two in the soul?"--Katherine Mansfield"There is no woman in American literature as fascinating as the doomed Madame Olenska. . . . Traditionally, Henry James has always been placed slightly higher up the slope of Parnassus than Edith Wharton. But now that the prejudice against the female writer is on the wane, they look to be exactly what they are: giants, equals, the tutelary and benign gods of our American literature."--Gore Vidal"Will writers ever recover that peculiar blend of security and alertness which characterizes Mrs. Wharton and her tradition?"--E. M. ForsterFrom the Trade Paperback edition. Product Description 2 cassettes / 3 hoursRead by Kate NelliganIn gas-lit 1870s New York, when society people "dread scandal more than disease", affable and affluent Newland Archer is deeply troubled. Seemingly content to live out his years in a conventional and moribund marriage to May, he is forced to confront an overwhelming passion for the bizarre and challenging Countess Ellen Olenska. To follow such a passion would ut everything at risk - his family, his name, and his position in New York society. But is not an all-consuming love worth more than the superficial values of the elite . . ?