Wharton's most erotic and lyrical novel, Summer explores a daring theme for 1917, a woman's awakening to her sexuality. Eighteen-year-old Charity Royall lives in the small town of North Dormer, ignorant of desire until the arrival of architect Lucius Harney. Like the succulent summer landscape in the Berkshires around them, Charity's romance is lush and picturesque, but its consequences are harsh and real.
Praised for its realism and candor by such writers as Joseph Conrad and Henry James and compared to Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Summer was one of Wharton's personal favorites of all her novels and remains as fresh and relevant today as when it was first written.
Confronting one's past is a common theme in movies and literature of the 1990's. Writing in 1916, Edith Wharton mixed this theme with summer romance to craft the story of a young couple. The heroine is a small-town librarian, set in the Berkshires. No contemporary librarian would identify with Charity Royal as she disdainfully crochets lace in a disorderly room full of musty books. Reader Grace Conlin distinguishes both men's and women's voices easily, using hushed, intimate tones to convey the sweetness of the romance. Yet an ephemeral quality in her delivery casts a shadow of reality on the story and reminds the listener that seasons change. D.W.K. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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