Summer
(Book)

"Charity Royall, a New Englander of humble origins, begins a torrid love affair with aristocratic Lucius Harney against all societal norms." *** "The novel Wharton called her 'hot Ethan' is set in the Massachusetts Berkshires and delves into the thwarted dreams and sexual passions of a repressed rural woman." *** "Charity Royall, brought down from the Mountain when she was an infant, is a ward of Lawyer Royall. Lucius Harney becomes Charity's lover and the father of her child, but he clearly is not destined to be her husband. Lawyer Royall, despised by Charity at first, becomes the key to the security of her future, a future that will not include the passionate love she experienced with Harney but will, at least, be completely unlike the lives of the people of the Mountain. Edith Wharton has written with sensitivity of a young girl's sexuality and growth into maturity." Shapiro. Fic for Youth 3rd ed.