Here is a story of star-crossed lovers. What is mainly crossing them is that they are both married and not to each other. They live in a time & society that does not accept divorce.
Newland Archer thinks he is in love with young, blonde, innocent May Welland. He and May come from the same class of society, New York old money. They know the same people, go to the same parties. Newland asks May to marry him and she happily accepts. But there is a new woman in Newland's circle, Countess Olenska. She is everything May is not: brunette, older, experienced, worldly, intelligent, artistic, and sophisticated. She also fleeing from an abusive husband. It only takes a couple of meetings for Newland to realize the Countess is the woman he wants to spend his life with, not the insipid May. Still, Newland urges Countess Olenska not to divorce her husband, as she desires, because she would be in disgrace and shunned by her peers. Countess Olenska agrees and she in turn urges Newland to go thru with his plans to wed May, which he does. But when he sees the Countess later after the wedding & honeymoon, Newland realizes he has made a terrible mistake.
I enjoyed reading this novel, which won a Pulitzer in 1921. The only problem I had with it was understanding the importance that the approval of their tight knit circle had for Newland & the Countess. It's a bit hard to see what everyone was so uptight about almost 100 years later.
I also saw the film version by Martin Scorsese, which I enjoyed too. Interestingly, he made the Countess blonde and May brunette though why I don't know. Also he uses a narrator to help explain the motives & thoughts behind the characters actions.
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