# The Age of Innocence

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![The Age of Innocence](https://quivercdn.com/covers/virago/edith-wharton/the-age-of-innocence_978-03-4900-998-8.jpg?v=2026-05-17%2002%3A56%3A08)

- Book: [The Age of Innocence](https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton/the-age-of-innocence) ([The Age of Innocence.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton/the-age-of-innocence.md))
- Authors: [Edith Wharton](https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton)
- Publisher: virago
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-03-4900-998-8
- Published: 2017-02-23
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

Set in turn-of-the-century New York, Edith Wharton's classic novel The Age of Innocence reveals a society governed by the dictates of taste and form, manners and morals, and intricate social ceremonies. Newland Archer, soon to marry the lovely May Welland, is a man torn between his respect for tradition and family and his attraction to May's strongly independent cousin, the Countess Ellen Olenska. Plagued by the desire to live in a world where two people can love each other free from condemnation and judgment by the group, Newland views the artful delicacy of the world he lives in as a comforting security one moment, and at another, as an oppressive fiction masking true human nature. The Age of Innocence is at once a richly drawn portrait of the elegant lifestyles, luxurious brownstones, and fascinating culture of bygone New York society and a compelling look at the conflict between human passions and the social tribe that tries to control them.