HWPL Readers: Summer by Edith Wharton

A tale of forbidden passion and thwarted dreams played out against the lush, summer backdrop of the Massachusetts Berkshires. With its rural setting and poor, uneducated protagonists, Summer represents a sharp departure from Whartons familiar depictions of the urban upper class. Protagonist Charity Royall lives unhappily with her hard-drinking adoptive father in an isolated village, until a visiting architect awakens her passion and the hope for escape. Exploring Charitys relation to her father and her lover, Wharton delves into dark cultural territory: repressed sexuality, small-town prejudice, and, in subtle hints, incest.