num_pages: 384
description: Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is an elegant, masterful portrait of desire and betrayal in old New York—now with a new introduction from acclaimed author Colm Tóibín for the novel’s centennial. With vivid power, Wharton evokes a time of gaslit streets, formal dances held in the ballrooms of stately brownstones, and society people "who dreaded scandal more than disease." This is Newland Archer's world as he prepares to many the docile May Welland. Then, suddenly, the mysterious, intensely nonconformist Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a long absence, turning Archer's world upside down.This classic Wharton tale of thwarted love is an exuberantly comic and profoundly moving look at the passions of the human heart, as well as a literary achievement of the highest order.
language: English
title: The Age of Innocence
titlecomplete: The Age of Innocence
characters: Mrs. Manson Mingott, Mrs. Augusta Welland, May Welland, Newland Archer, Ellen Olenska
genres: Fiction, Historical, American, Literature, Romance, Classics, Novels, New York, Historical Fiction, 20th Century
ratings_count: 168123
places: New York (State), The United States of America, New York City, New York
awards: awardedAt: -1546272000000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Novel
publisher: Scribner