Summary
Newland Archer is charming, tactful, enlightened, he accepts the standards and abides by the rules of the the wealthy elite of New York society in the 1870s. His engagement to the impeccable May Welland assures him of a safe and conventional future, until the arrival of May's cousin Ellen Olenska.
Independent, free-thinking, scandalously separated from her husband, Ellen forces Archer to question the values and assumptions of his narrow world. As their love for each other grows, Archer has to decide where his ultimate loyalty lies.
Edith Wharton's most famous novel and an instant classic The Age of Innocence won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921.
