My fourth Edith Wharton novel; I think she may be one of my favourite female classic novelists. Edith Wharton called Summer, her “hot Ethan.” Before reading this book, I thought I would like this more than EF because that novel was very bleak. I liked Charity in the first chapter and then grew indifferent to her; though, the plot had more interested and sympathetic to her plight towards the end. When it was first published in 1917, it was not a critical success though many see it as Wharton’s finest work. It is dramatic, but not in the way EF’s ending is because there is definitely a sense of realism to Charity’s predicament. It must have been controversial in its time, and like most of Wharton’s work, has themes of forbidden love and women who “fall” from grace in some way. All in all, I grew to appreciate the weight of the work by the ending however much I did not come to love the characters.