Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

Oxford Bookworms LibraryLevel 5

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.

Wharton Edith

The Age of Innocence

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE

For the rich and the fashionable, New York society in the 1870s was a world full of rules: rules about when to wear a black tie, or the correct time to pay an afternoon visit; rules about who you could invite to your evening parties or sit next to at the opera; rules about who was an acceptable person, and who was not.

Countess Ellen Olenska, who has lived for many years in Europe as the wife of a Polish Count, returns alone to her family in New York. She hopes to leave the pain of her unhappy marriage behind her, but she does not understand the rules of New York society. Newland Archer, however, understands them only too well, and the girl he is engaged to marry, young May Welland, lives her life by the rules, because she cannot imagine any other way of living.

Newland, May, and Ellen are caught in a battle between love, honour, and duty – a battle where strong feelings hide behind polite smiles, where much is left unsaid, and where a single expressive look across a crowded room can carry more meaning than a hundred words.

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ISBN 978 0 19 479216 5

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Illustrated by: Gavin Reece

Word count (main text): 24,820 words

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PEOPLE IN THIS STORY

Newland Archer’s family

Newland Archer

Janey Archer, Newland’s sister

Adeline Archer, Newland’s mother

Louisa van der Luyden, Adeline’s cousin

Henry van der Luyden, Louisa’s husband

the Misses du Lac, Newland’s aunts

the Duke of St Austrey, Louisa’s English cousin

May