The Age of Desire: A Novel by Jennie
Fields
Fans of Edith Wharton will truly
appreciate this novel based upon a few of Wharton's years in Paris
beginning in 1907 when, at age 46, she first meets Morton Fullerton,
a younger man and journalist with the New York Times, who had a
reputation as a rapscallion, who had indulged in numerous affairs
with older men and women, and was a great friend of the novelist,
Henry James. This luscious book includes excerpts from Wharton's
diaries and correspondence, which lays bare her heart as she becomes
more enamored with Fullerton and increasingly dissatisfied with a
marriage that has never fulfilled her. The Age of Desire is
aptly titled, in that Fields describes the mid life coming of age of
a 46 year old woman who had never experienced physical desire or even
thought it possible, and isn't sure she should give in to the desire.
When the novel begins, Wharton is
gaining fame as an international literary sensation following the
publication of The House of Mirth.
Her closest confident is her secretary and former governess, Anna
Bahlmann, who had also served as a surrogate mother for Edith, whose
own mother, Lucretia Jones, was essentially a social creature with
little love for her youngest child. This beautifully written novel
tells the story of the unusual love and friendship shared by the two
women – Edith from the socially prominent Jones family and Anna an
orphan – upon whom Edith came to rely for literary advice.
Wharton
husband, Edward “Teddy” Wharton, was from a similar social
background; however, the marriage was loveless. Teddy did not share
Edith's intellectual and social interests and ultimately, developed a
mental illness which became increasingly burdensome for Edith.
Edith's estrangement from her husband and her increasing interest in
Fullerton provides fodder for disagreements that develop between her
and Anna.
From
the salons of Paris, to the Wharton's estate (The Mount) in Lennox,
MA, to the Vanderbilt's apartment on the Rue de Varenne, to the
English countryside, to the small, out of the way cafe's and hotels
in Montmartre, The Age of Desire
transports the reader back to the gilded age. While the book started
out slowly, I become more drawn in and transported to another place
and time, where i wanted to dwell. I've no doubt the experiences made
it possible for Edith to write what would, in my mind, become her
masterpiece – The Age of Innocence.
Highly recommended.
This book will be released August 2, 2012.
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