Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Virginia

`Quite the finest thing you have done; both more done than even the best of your other doing, and more worth it through intrinsic value, interest and beauty'Henry James to Edith WhartonWhen The Reef appeared in 1912, reviewers found Edith Wharton's story of American expatriates in France sordid and even shocking; but Henry James considered it unequivocally her finest novel. Obliquely but intensely autobiographical, The Reef explores Wharton's ambivalent sense of both her newlyadopted country and her unexpectedly awakened sexuality. The story focuses on George Darrow, an American diplomat in love with the recently widowed Anna Leath. On his way from London to visit her in France, Darrow finds himself accompanying Sophy Viner, a young American he has known in the past, onthe way to Paris. The prologue to the novel is a novella in itself, a minutely rendered anatomy of social ambiguity, and one of Wharton's greatest achievements. The implications of those ten days in Paris inform the remainder of the novel, as Darrow's, Anna's and Sophy's lives become increasinglyand intricately interdependent.The Reef is a brilliant and compelling work, both as a neglected and genuinely distinguished novel and as a revealing document in modern sexual history.

The Reef

3227eec7-4108-44a2-acd6-cd15985becce-1

Edith Wharton

California

"I put most of myself into that opus," Edith Wharton said of The Reef, possibly her most autobiographical novel. Published in 1912, it was, Bernard Berenson told Henry Adams, "better than any previous work excepting Ethan Frome."
A challenge to the moral climate of the day, The Reef follows the fancies of George Darrow, a young diplomat en route from London to France, intent on proposing to the widowed Anna Leath. Unsettled by Anna's reticence, Darrow drifts into an affair with Sophy Viner, a charmingly naive and impecunious young woman whose relations with Darrow and Anna's family threaten his prospects for success.
For its dramatic construction and acute insight into social mores and the multifaceted problem of sexuality, The Reef stands as one of Edith Wharton's most daring works of fiction.

Category - Fiction / General Fiction

Format - Paperback

Condition - Good

Listed - A year ago

Views - 21

Wishes - 2

Ships From - Virginia

Est. Publication Date - Jun 1998

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The Reef

ISBN: 0192823191

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Category - Fiction / General Fiction

Format - Paperback

Condition - Good

Listed - A year ago

Views - 21

Wishes - 2

Ships From - Virginia

Est. Publication Date - Jun 1998

Additional Information

The Reef

ISBN: 0192823191

Publisher Description

Tags

The Reef

By:

$2.00 $2.50

Meet the seller

Discover more

Reef

By: Edith Wharton

More from this seller

Additional titles by Edith Wharton

'Reef' readers also enjoyed:

Recently Viewed