The Age of Innocence

In late 19th century New York, the marriage of an upper-class couple, Newland Archer and May Welland, is jeopardized by the arrival of Ellen Olenska, who has returned from living in Europe. Formerly part of their social circle, she left her husband for mysterious reasons and came home to New York. Archer is a romantic and in some ways an "innocent," but out of a sense of obligation to family and society, gives up the woman he loves. Like The House of Mirth, this novel is critical of the society it describes and raises a number of moral questions about happiness, social strictures and personal responsibility. The Age of Innocence won a Pulitzer Prize, the first ever awarded to a female writer.