Charity Royall is eighteen, bored with life in the small town of North Dormer. While working at the library, Charity meets visiting architect Lucius Harney and they become friends. Will their growing closeness lead to a happy marriage? Charity was born in an impoverished mountain community and her life is complicated by Mr. Royall who intruded into her bedroom when she was seventeen and later urged her to marry him. Lucius starts an affair with Charity Royall, all the while hiding the fact that he is engaged to society girl ...
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Charity Royall is eighteen, bored with life in the small town of North Dormer. While working at the library, Charity meets visiting architect Lucius Harney and they become friends. Will their growing closeness lead to a happy marriage? Charity was born in an impoverished mountain community and her life is complicated by Mr. Royall who intruded into her bedroom when she was seventeen and later urged her to marry him. Lucius starts an affair with Charity Royall, all the while hiding the fact that he is engaged to society girl Annabel Balch.
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I read this book for my bookclub and we had a great discussion about it. It really provoked a lot of different opinions about women's roles in society, both past and present. My one criticism is that the foreword of the volume I had laid out the entire plot, including the ending!! I was very disappointed when I realized it had spoiled the ending...but it did give me an interesting perspective as I read the book!
pamela1717
Apr 12, 2009
No more Wharton for me!
So every now and then I get this bug that I should improve myself, bag the comtemporary lit, and try some classics. And usually it goes like this: pick up the book, try to read it 2-3 times, and then abandon it to the giveaway/trade pile. Well, it's happened again. As I said before, I tried to read this three times and couldn't get past Chapter 2. I will say however, the writing is not flowery or verbose (which I appreciate) but it just wasn't for me. But if you're a classics person, there is no reason why you shouldn't give this one a try.
