Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady

by Louis Bromfield

The renowned Pentland family name has stood for wealth, position, and elegance for many years. Yet, change was in the air in the years following the First World War, with many nouveaux-riches pretenders undermining the favoured family's authority as the arbiters of morals and class.

Strong-willed Olivia Pentland leads a routine life that is mainly devoid of emotion or excitement. She is the cold and distant heir to the family fortune and the wife of Anson. Olivia, who is trapped in an oppressive marriage, must weigh her moral obligations against the sudden excitement and allure of a new love.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Literary Fiction, Literature, 20th Century, American, The United States Of America

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Louis Bromfield was an American author and conservationist who gained international recognition winning the Pulitzer Prize and pioneering innovative scientific farming concepts.

Bromfield studied agriculture at Cornell University from 1914 to 1916,[1] but transferred to Columbia University to study journalism. While at Columbia University, Louis Bromfield was initiated into the fraternal organization Phi Delta Theta. His time at Columbia would be short lived and he left after less than a year to go to war. After serving with the American Field Service in World War I and being awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, he returned to New York City and found work as a reporter. In 1924, his first novel, The Green Bay Tree, won instant acclaim. He won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for best novel for Early Autumn. All of his 30 books were best-sellers, and many, such as The Rains Came and Mrs. Parkington, were made into successful motion pictures.

photograph by: Carl Van Vechten