Publisher's Synopsis
1927. Wharton, American author, is best known for her stories and ironic novels about upper class people. Wharton's central subjects were the conflict between social and individual fulfillment, repressed sexuality, and the manners of old families and the nouveau riche, who had made their fortunes in more recent years. Among her numerous novels, short stories, and travel writings are The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, and the Pulitzer prize-winning Age of Innocence. Moving effortlessly between satire and sympathy, Edith Wharton paints a gleaming portrait of 1920s New York society. At its centre is Pauline Manford, indefatigable hostess and do-gooder, who rules her family with ruthless charm, Dexter the generous lawyer who is her second husband, Arthur her ramshackle first husband, Nona, her gentle daughter, and son Jim, married to the exqisite Lita. When the preposterous Marchesa arrives on the scene, trailing debts and problems, Pauline strives with increasing desperation to keep her family together, too busy to recognise the threatening truth until it explodes in a tragi-comic catastrophe. The Twilight Sleep deals with the postwar, Jazz Age frenzy of a middle-aged American clubwoman and do-gooder, Pauline Manford. The story is understood through the eyes of Pauline who schedules an almost supernatural round of meetings, social engagements, and self-improvement sessions completely distracting her from the collapse of her family.
