The Children [Paperback]

Edith Wharton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1997

A bestseller when it was first published in 1928, Edith Wharton's The Children is a comic, bittersweet novel about the misadventures of a bachelor and a band of precocious children. The seven Wheater children, stepbrothers and stepsisters grown weary of being shuttled from parent to parent "like bundles," are eager for their parents' latest reconciliation to last. A chance meeting between the children and the solitary forty-six-year-old Martin Boyne leads to a series of unforgettable encounters. Among the colorful cast of characters are the Wheater adults, who play out their own comedy of marital errors; the flamboyant Marchioness of Wrench; and the vivacious fifteen-year-old Judith Wheater, who captures Martin's heart. With deft humor and touching drama, Wharton portrays a world of intrigues and infidelities, skewering the manners and mores of Americans abroad.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'An engrossing picture of middle-aged infatuation' - THE TIMES 'A writer for our time' - Marilyn French --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

America's most famous woman of letters, and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, Edith Wharton was born into one of the last "leisured class" families in New York City, as she put it, in 1862. Educated privately, she was married to Edward Wharton in 1885, and for the next few years, they spent their time in the high society of Newport (Rhode Island), then Lenox (Massachusetts) and Europe. It was in Europe that Wharton first met Henry James, who was to have a profound and lasting influence on her life and work. Wharton's first published book was a work of nonfiction, in collaboration with Ogden Codman, The Decoration of Houses (1897), but from early on, her marriage had been a source of distress, and she was advised by her doctor to write fiction to relieve her nervous tension. Wharton's first short stories appeared in Scribner's Magazine, and though she published several volumes of fiction around the turn of the century, including The Greater Inclination (1899), The Touchstone (1900), Crucial Instances (1901), The Valley of Decision (1902), Sanctuary (1903), and The Descent of Man and Other Stories (1904), it wasn't until 1905, with the publication of the bestselling The House of Mirth, that she was recognized as one of the most important novelists of her time for her keen social insight and subtle sense of satire. In 1906, Wharton visited Paris, which inspired Madame de Treymes (1907), and she made her home there in 1907, finally divorcing her husband in 1912. The years before the outbreak of World War I represent the core of her artistic achievement, when Ethan Frome (1911), The Reef (1912), and The Custom of the Country (1913) were published. During the war, she remained in France organizing relief for Belgian refugees, for which she was later awarded the Legion of Honor. She also wrote two novels about the war, The Marne (1918) and A Son at the Front (1923), and continued, in France, to write about New England and the Newport society she had known so well in Summer (1917), the companion to Ethan Frome, and The Age of Innocence (1920), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. Wharton died in France in 1937. Her other works include Old New York (1924), The Mother's Recompense (1925), The Writing of Fiction (1925), The Children (1928), Hudson River Bracketed (1929), and her autobiography, A Backward Glance (1934).

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (September 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684831554
• ISBN-13: 978-0684831558
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,542,399 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't overlook this gem., March 26, 2001

By 

A reader (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Children (Paperback)

Some of Edith Wharton's better known works have been translated to the silver screen in recent years. Her lush descriptions and poignant, mannered conversations make for great screenplays. This book has those Wharton hallmarks, but it's doubtful that you'll see this story at a multiplex near you anytime soon.

The reason? I believe the Hollywood powers-that-be might find this novel hits a bit too close to home. Wharton has written many books about New York society at the turn of the century, but none so scathing as this. Her characters represent the celebrities of her age; what's fascinating is to see that things haven't changed all that much. You'll never read the latest Tom Cruise - Nicole Kidman - Russell Crowe - Meg Ryan spread in People magazine in exactly the same way again after this book.

At the same time, it has all the things that Wharton does better than anyone else - the restrained (barely) passions, the intimate moments, the inner turmoil, the beautiful settings. Nobody else finds such depths among the shallows.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars She's so good you want to kill her..., June 29, 2000

By 

Tracy L. Andreen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Children (Paperback)

Is it possible to love and hate a book simultaneously? That is, after all, the resounding impression left by Edith Wharton's, THE CHILDREN, whose prose I appreciated even as the conclusion of the story left me deeply annoyed.

I have to struggle to read for pleasure anymore, so when I actually set aside a few hours for the attempt, as I did with THE CHILDREN, I rather hope it to be a good experience. And, in many respects, it was. THE CHILDREN is beautifully written, as is typically the case for Wharton (even in her sub-par endeavors, such as TWILIGHT SLEEP or GLIMPSES OF THE MOON, which I loved but didn't think was one of her best efforts). Much has been made of her talent for writing so there's no need to go on here. Suffice to say, she's brilliant. And THE CHILDREN is an excellent example of that fact, with a story that is far less renowned than THE HOUSE OF MIRTH or THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. However, the ending just killed me. I had my hopes up so ungodly high that perhaps, just perhaps, Wharton was going to give us a "happy" ending...I should have known better. I read this book on a plane flight from the American Mid West and was rapturously engrossed throughout (thank God for sleeping seatmates) but when I reached the end I just about threw the book across the plane in frustration. I know, I know, shame on me for thinking Edith Wharton would deliver a tidy conclusion (GLIMPSES OF THE MOON aside), but still, I was ever so hopeful...my mistake. At least with THE HOUSE OF MIRTH you could read "tragedy" in the subtext from the very beginning so you could be summarily braced when it arrived. But the surprising lightness to her style in THE CHILDREN left me unprepared.

Nonetheless, if you like Wharton and are familiar with her manner, then by all means, check out THE CHILDREN. It's an engaging story, truly, about a middle-aged man whose life is enriched by his capricious association with a wild, eccentric family led, in no small part, by the amazing eldest daughter, with whom he falls in love as he tries to help her to hold together her various step brothers and sisters as their parents go through yet another messy divorce.

So, by all means, give it a go...just be prepared for the Wharton Effect that comes with the conclusion.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Bag, February 3, 2004

By 

L. Dann "adhdmom" (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Children (Hardcover)

This tale of neglected, compelling children has several themes that, given the nature of the times, added an extra layer of tension to the reading. Martin Boyne, single, lonely and not particularly talented, discovers on an ocean voyage a bunch of biological and step brothers and sisters now all under the 'protection' of a reunited couple. The Wheatleys, wealthy, self-absorbed and decadent, offer little by way of security and hope. Boyne in his early 40's, soon takes on the role of family advocate and unwittingly falls in love with the eldest girl, Judith, not yet 16.
There are deliciously unsuitable characters all trying, for all the wrong reasons to break up the struggling brood and equally as compelling nurses and nannies dedicated to their union and preservation. The cast includes a debauched Duke, a devout student of the modern psychoanalytic and freest theories for kids, a lion tamer and Hollywood actresses married to titles. The settings are European gems and the glamour oozes with emptiness.
The tale involves losses- inevitable in stories of kids and growing up and tends to drag on a bit. It is fascinating though, to wonder and wander with Wharton as she holds forth on her own beliefs about manners, modernity and the timeless dilemmas of 'bringing up babies.'
Atypical and undecided, but worthy.