Set in the exclusive high society of 1870s New York, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence follows Newland Archer, a wealthy young lawyer happily engaged to the conventional May Welland. His ordered world is upended when May's unconventional cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, arrives from Europe, fleeing a failed marriage. As Newland falls passionately in love with Ellen, he becomes trapped between desire and duty, torn by the rigid codes of a society that values appearances above happiness. A poignant meditation on love, sacrifice, and social constraint, the novel won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, making Wharton the first woman to receive the honor.
