  There's a urlLink website where you can read Edith Wharton's Summer , but it's not for the faint of heart. I just finished the book 10 minutes ago, and I'm still recovering. In this tragic yet honest novel, Edith Wharton once again examines a woman's role in society. In the case of Wharton's naive yet perceptive protagonist, Charity Royall, it's society's ideologies that keep her-- physically and emotionally-- from her deepest desires. The second of Wharton's books set in New England, Summer traces the passionate love affair of Charity and Lucius Harney, two people who in the end, acquiesce to their environments and circumstances-- though neither of them victimized. In fact, Susan Minot's writes in her introduction to the novel, Wharton's heroines are not hapless victims, however; they understand their helplessness. Charity Royall 'was bland and insensible to many things and dimly knew it, but to all that was light and air, perfume and colour, every drop in her responded. ' It is this heightened sensibility that animates Wharton's characters-- they are aware . While their awareness may deepen their tragedy, it also allows them to retain their dignity-- though sometimes at the cost of their lives.
I could've easily bawled my eyes out, for sure, but I was in such suspence that there was no time for tears. During the latter half of the novel, especially, Wharton drives the plot toward its resolution with an Ethan Frome-like intensity. Summer is powerful! Has anyone else read it? I need to discuss this with someone. 
