Alice Adams is a 1921 novel by American author Booth Tarkington, winner of the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Set in a Midwestern town, it follows Alice Adams, a lively but socially ambitious young woman from a lower-middle-class family. Embarrassed by her family's modest circumstances and her father's unfulfilling clerk position, Alice dreams of joining high society and falls for Arthur Russell, a wealthy young man. Through charm, pretense, and elaborately staged dinners, she attempts to mask her family's poverty. A keenly observed portrait of class aspiration and self-deception, the novel balances gentle satire with deep sympathy for its characters.
