Roman fever - Edith Wharton

A collection of beautifully-crafted short stories.
They are set in Italy, France and America and are powerful portraits of women who live in 'the world of propriety' at the turn of the century.
They tell of the emotions women feel: in love, in jealousy, when they long for children or seek independence - and when their passions lead them to overstep the bounds laid down by exacting conventions. We see too what happens to those strong enough to break the rules but rarely strong enough to live forever beyond the pale of the society that has banished them.

First published in America in 1964, Roman Fever contains some of Edith Wharton's finest writing.

Edith Wharton was born in 1862 in New York, and later lived in Rhode Island and France. Her first novel, The Valley of Decision, was published in 1902, and by 1913 she was writing at least one book a year. During the First World War she was awarded the Cross of the Legion d'Honneur and the Order of Leopold. In 1920, The Age of Innocence won the Pulitzer Prize; she was the first woman to receive a Doctorate of Letters from Yale University and in 1930 she became a member of the American Academy of Arts and letters. She died in 1937.

The stories in this volume 'tear the gauze of polite deceit into shreds, by showing the weight of such a shroud, and reealign what exists beneath . . . Not just social commentaries but penetrating moral analyses
Marilyn French

The stories have a lightness of touch and a narrative neatness that demonstrate what a professional she was
Penelope Lively