Synopsis "The Touchstone"

Published in 1900, eleven years prior to her masterpiece Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton's novella The Touchstone explores the emotional complexities of love and betrayal. Penniless and unable to marry the woman he loves, the financially struggling lawyer Stephen Glennard discovers a way out of his predicaments by selling love letters written to him by deceased author Margaret Aubyn. Glennard's psychological anguish as he grapples with his guilt and the repercussions of his actions presents a poignant narrative of human conscience and morality.

Edith Wharton

(Author)

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Edith Wharton was born in New York in 1862. Her maiden name was Edith Newbold Jones. Her family was upper class, comparable to European aristocracy, and consequently she received a meticulous private education. In 1907, she settled in France, where she became a disciple and friend of Henry James. Her most famous work is The Age of Innocence, published in 1920 and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. She is considered the most brilliant American novelist of her generation, admired by intellectuals of the stature of Henry James, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Jean Cocteau, and Ernest Hemingway.

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