The Age of Innocence (The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature)

441 pp. Original dark green leather, gilt titles and decorations, silk moire endpapers, gold ribbon marker bound in. Basis for the motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder. Introduction by R.W.B. Lewis, illustrations by Chris Duke. "Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people 'dreaded scandal more than disease.' This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life — or mercilessly destroy it."