Summer
Published in 1917, Summer is a historical romance and Victorian-set fiction novel by Edith Wharton. The story is set in Berkshire Hills and Massachusetts. Characters include Charity Royall and Lucius Harney. It deals with young women, guardian and ward, man-woman relationships and fathers and daughters.
Open Library readers give it an average of 3.8 out of 5 from 6 ratings, and 56 more have it on their want-to-read list. It has been published in 85 editions across 4 languages. On Project Gutenberg it was downloaded 2,090 times in the last 30 days.
At about 168 pages, most readers finish it in 3–4 hours. It is in the public domain in the United States and free to read on Project Gutenberg.
About Summer
Summer, Edith Wharton wrote to Gaillard Lapsley, "is known to its author and her familars as the Hot Ethan." One of the first American novels to deal frankly with a young woman's sexual awakening, it was a publishing sensation when it appeared in 1917, praised by Joseph Conrad, Howard Sturgis, and Percy Lubbock, and favorably compared to Madame Bovary. Like its predecessor, Ethan Frome, it is set in the Berkshires, but the season is summer and the story is that of Charity Royall, a New Englander of humble origins -- passionate, forthright, and proud -- and her torrid affair with Lucius Harney, an artistically inclined young man from the city. A novel that "breaks, or stretches, many conventions of women's romantic love stories and in the process creates a new picture of female sexuality," as Marilyn French writes in her introduction, Summer is "a clamorous and ecstatic affirmation of the joy of sexual love no matter what it costs." Bold in conception, rich in imagery, and provocative by implication, it was one of Edith Wharton's personal favorites, and stands as one of her greatest novelistic achievements
Opening line
“A GIRL came out of lawyer Royall's house, at the end of the one street of North Dormer, and stood on the doorstep.”
Quick answers
Who wrote Summer?
Summer was written by Edith Wharton and first published in 1917.
What genre is Summer?
It is usually shelved as Historical Romance, Victorian-Era Fiction and Classic Love Stories.
How long is Summer?
The median edition has 168 pages, about 3–4 hours of reading at 250 words per minute.
Is Summer free to read?
Yes. It is in the public domain in the United States and can be read free on Project Gutenberg in EPUB, Kindle and HTML formats.
What books are similar to Summer?
Readers who like it often enjoy Washington Square, The Sheik and Sins and Secrets.
More by Edith Wharton
All books →- FREE🎧
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton
The Ghost stories of Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
- FREE🎧
The Reef
Edith Wharton
- FREE🎧
The Glimpses of the Moon
Edith Wharton
- FREE🎧
The Long Run
Edith Wharton
- FREE
The Fruit of the Tree
Edith Wharton
Books like Summer
- FREE
Washington Square
Henry James
- FREE🎧
The Sheik
E. M. Hull
Sins and Secrets
P.F. Kozak
Untie My Heart
Judith Ivory
- FREE🎧
The Black Moth
Georgette Heyer
Jamintha
Jennifer Wilde
The Tea Planter's Bride
Rosemary Rogers
The River Knows
Jayne Ann Krentz