Publisher's Synopsis
Alice Adams is a novel written by Booth Tarkington that was first published in 1921. The story takes place in a small town in the early 1900s and follows the life of a young woman named Alice Adams. Alice is from a middle-class family and dreams of marrying into a wealthy family to improve her social status. She is determined to make a good impression on the town's elite and attends social events to meet eligible bachelors. However, her attempts to fit in are often met with disappointment and humiliation.Alice's father is a struggling businessman who constantly worries about money and his social standing. He puts on airs to impress others, but his efforts are often in vain. Alice's mother is a kind and supportive woman who tries to help her daughter achieve her dreams, but is limited by their financial situation.Throughout the novel, Alice faces many challenges and setbacks in her pursuit of social status and love. She becomes involved with a wealthy young man named Arthur Russell, but their relationship is complicated by class differences and misunderstandings. Alice also struggles to maintain her friendships with people from different social classes and is often caught between her desire for acceptance and her loyalty to her family and friends.Despite the challenges she faces, Alice remains determined to improve her life and find happiness. The novel explores themes of social class, love, and the American Dream, and offers a vivid portrayal of life in small-town America during the early 1900s.The device of the absentee partner has the defect that it cannot be employed for longer than ten or fifteen minutes at a time, and it may not be repeated more than twice in one evening: a single repetition, indeed, is weak, and may prove a betrayal. Alice knew that her present performance could be effective during only this interval between dances.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
