New Year's Day (The 'Seventies)

"New Year's Day (The 'Seventies)" by Edith Wharton is a novel that captures the complexities of social interactions and personal relationships in late 19th-century New York. The story revolves around the character Lizzie Hazeldean, who grapples with her past while navigating the intricacies of her present life, particularly concerning her husband, Charles, and her connection with the charming yet morally questionable Henry Prest. The narrative explores themes of societal expectations, love, and the impact of personal choices against the backdrop of the changing opulence of old New York. At the start of the novel, we are introduced to a young narrator reflecting on a childhood memory related to his mother’s gossip about Lizzie Hazeldean and the scandalous nature of her relationship with Henry Prest, which has implications in their society. The scene unfolds on New Year's Day at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where a fire prompts a spectacle that complicates Lizzie's life and relationships. The narrative shifts from the mother’s pointed remarks to a vivid recollection of Lizzie's past, highlighting her transformation from a girl rescued from dismal circumstances to a socially complex woman entrenched in emotional turmoil due to her husband’s declining health and her ongoing entanglement with Prest. The opening sets the stage for a broader examination of morality, reputation, and the shifting dynamics of affection within the regulated confines of society. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Edith Newbold Wharton was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray, realistically, the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for her novel, The Age of Innocence. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, in 1996. Her other well-known works are The House of Mirth, the novella Ethan Frome, and several notable ghost stories.