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Summer by Edith Wharton - 3* - My Review

Set in a small town in Massachusetts, protagonist Charity Royall was “brought down” from the Mountain by Lawyer Royall, a wealthy man, and his wife who has since died. He became her guardian. Rather than growing up in poverty with her disreputable mother, she was reared in a life of privilege. We meet her as an adult young woman working as a librarian. She yearns to escape from her small town. She meets Lucius Harney, an architect from a higher social class. They form a relationship, making sure to conceal it from the town gossipers. It is her first love. This relationship inevitably leads to trouble.

Women were not encouraged to harbor ambitions or venture outside accepted conventions of behavior, and when they did, bad things generally happened. Published in 1917, it was considered shocking at the time, but is quite modest from today’s perspective. It examines the societal restraints placed on women, and their limited options at the time. It is well-written, but I never felt immersed in it. I enjoyed two other of Wharton’s books (Ethan Frome, The Age of Innocence) a bit more than this one.

3.5