A naive girl from a humble background meets an ambitious city boy, and a torrid romance ensues. Despite her pride, independence, and honesty, Charity Royall feels shadowed by her past--especially in her ardent relationship with the educated and refined Lucius Harney. Can passion overcome the effects of heredity and environment? With its frank treatment of a woman's sexual awakening, Summer created a sensation upon its 1917 publication. Edith Wharton — the author of Ethan Frome and a peerless observer and chronicler of society — completely shattered the standards of conventional love stories with this novel's candor and realism. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author declared Summer a personal favorite among her works, and liked to refer to it as "the Hot Ethan." Over a century later, it remains fresh and relevant.
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Read this book for Miller book club along with Ethan Frome.
Enjoyed it more than Frome, thought it was pretty realistic in displaying how Charity felt about pretty much everything up until she goes up the Mountain and wants to stay with all the people there because she feels like she deserves it. I mean, I guess this was the equivalent of the Disney part where the young woman throws herself sobbing onto the bed. But I was sort of rolling my eyes at that. And then I really disliked the ending, where she agrees to marry her father figure and I guess pass the baby off as his? It was interesting but I didn't find it scandalous for this time period of course.
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