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The four short novels in this collection are set in the New York of the 1840s, '50s, '60s, and '70s, each one revealing the codes and customs that ruled society, portrayed with the keen style that is uniquely Edith Wharton's. Originally published in 1924 and long out of print, these tales are vintage Wharton, dealing boldly with such themes as infidelity, illegitimacy, jealousy, the class system, and the condition of women in society.
Included in this remarkable quartet are False Dawn, which concerns the stormy relationship between a domineering father and his son; The Old Maid, the best known of the four, in which a young woman's secret illegitimate child is adopted by her best friend—with devastating results; The Spark, about a young man's moral rehabilitation, which is "sparked" by a chance encounter with Walt Whitman; and New Year's Day, an O. Henryesque tale of a married woman suspected of adultery. Old New York is Wharton at her finest.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 30, 2008 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780743454285
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780743454285
- File size: 1462 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 27, 1995
First published in 1924, Wharton's collection of four short novels reveals the customs and social orders of mid-19th-century New York. -
April 1, 1995
This is another in the new Scribner Paperback Fiction line of classics (see Classic Returns, LJ 3/1/95). This 1924 volume contains Wharton's novellas False Dawn, The Old Maid, The Spark, and New Year's Day, which portray New York from the 1840s to 1870s.
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