The Gods Arrive

Vance Weston #2

by Edith Wharton

In this 1932 sequel to Hudson River Bracketed, Halo Tarrant defies convention by leaving her husband and sailing for Europe with her lover, the novelist Vance Weston. In her mind, her love for him and her willingness to nurture his genius are enough to sustain the relationship. But Vance is often weak and immature, and his chance meeting with a woman from his past will test the bond with Halo.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, American, Literary Fiction, American Fiction

454 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Edith Wharton emerged as one of America’s most insightful novelists, deftly exposing the tensions between societal expectation and personal desire through her vivid portrayals of upper-class life. Drawing from her deep familiarity with New York’s privileged “aristocracy,” she offered readers a keenly observed and piercingly honest vision of Gilded Age society.

Her work reached a milestone when she became the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, awarded for The Age of Innocence. This novel highlights the constraining rituals of 1870s New York society and remains a defining portrait of elegance laced with regret.

Wharton’s literary achievements span a wide canvas. The House of Mirth presents a tragic, vividly drawn character study of Lily Bart, navigating social expectations and the perils of genteel poverty in 1890s New York. In Ethan Frome, she explores rural hardship and emotional repression, contrasting sharply with her urban social dramas.

Her novella collection Old New York revisits the moral terrain of upper-class society, spanning decades and combining character studies with social commentary. Through these stories, she inevitably points back to themes and settings familiar from The Age of Innocence. Continuing her exploration of class and desire, The Glimpses of the Moon addresses marriage and social mobility in early 20th-century America. And in Summer, Wharton challenges societal norms with its rural setting and themes of sexual awakening and social inequality.

Beyond fiction, Wharton contributed compelling nonfiction and travel writing. The Decoration of Houses reflects her eye for design and architecture; Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort presents a compelling account of her wartime observations. As editor of The Book of the Homeless, she curated a moving, international collaboration in support of war refugees.

Wharton’s influence extended beyond writing. She designed her own country estate, The Mount, a testament to her architectural sensibility and aesthetic vision. The Mount now stands as an educational museum celebrating her legacy.

Throughout her career, Wharton maintained friendships and artistic exchanges with luminaries such as Henry James, Sinclair Lewis, Jean Cocteau, André Gide, and Theodore Roosevelt—reflecting her status as a respected and connected cultural figure.
Her literary legacy also includes multiple Nobel Prize nominations, underscoring her international recognition. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature more than once.

In sum, Edith Wharton remains celebrated for her unflinching, elegant prose, her psychological acuity, and her capacity to illuminate the unspoken constraints of society—from the glittering ballrooms of New York to quieter, more remote settings. Her wide-ranging work—novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, travel writing, essays—offers cultural insight, enduring emotional depth, and a piercing critique of the customs she both inhabited and dissected.

Reviews

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I live with a designer. She's only 16, but she's been an artist and a designer since birth, and I can see, easily, that she may one day be the next Vera Wang.

When you live with a designer, you are being advised, quite frequently, to "change that shirt," or to "put your hair up instead" or to "move that painting." It's not about control; it's about an aesthetic that is sensed, and must be satisfied (or, at least, must be suggested).

As I started decorating for Christmas yesterday, with our resident designer away for the weekend, I laughed several times, knowing that it was very likely that I had misplaced the crèche, that the camels were somehow askew in their suggested desert trek, that Mary's hair was probably a fright, and whatnot. When she returns home this evening, I will start seeing the subtle changes that will occur every time she walks through the rooms.

I share this with you in my attempt to explain my own experience of reading Edith Wharton's work.

Ms. Wharton was, first and foremost, a designer.

Yes, she was a writer, of course, and, naturally, an observer, but she also designed clothing and landscapes and structures. It was never happenstance for Ms. Wharton that she mentions the wisteria, or the material of the dress. These were the details she could never ignore, was incapable of ignoring.

The last words of this novel are literally: "he bent his head and put his lips to a fold of her loose dress."

Folds of dresses and sleeves that fall to reveal silky shoulders are significant here; the entire novel is about the struggle between the sensual and the pragmatic. How each of us, whether we are writers, artists, playwrights, directors, musicians, gardeners, or designers, is constantly striving to achieve the balance between what inspires us, and how to get it "down on paper," so to speak.

Paper is everywhere in this story! It litters the floor, it is stacked on surfaces, it is written on, it is crumpled up, it is run through fingers, it is in great abundance, there is no paper to be found!

Our cups runneth over; our cups are empty. We are thirsty, we are bloated, we are fit to burst.

What a fantastic tribute to the creative process, published in 1932 by a 70-year-old Edith Wharton.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Vance thought of the Cretan labyrinth, of Odysseus evoking the mighty dead, of all the subterranean mysteries on whose outer crust man loves and fights and dies. The blood was beating in his ears. He began to wish they might never find the right door, but go on turning about forever at the dark heart of things.”
This is a follow on from Hudson River Bracketed and centres on the same two characters: young aspiring writer Vance Weston and his muse/lover Halo Tarrant. It follows directly from Hudson River Bracketed. With the two books combined the reader spends over nine hundred pages in their company. By the end this is quite enough! All courtesy of Virago! Vance Weston is a bit insufferable and various alternate titles suggested themselves; mainly along the lines of Portrait of the Artist as a Young (insert your own epithet). Wharton is actually wrestling with the epistemology on an artist/writer. The interplay between imagination, cognition, processes and places.
The plot is simple: (spoilers for the first in the series), after Vance’s wife dies he persuades Halo to leave her husband and go to Europe with him without waiting for divorce and remarriage. Much of the book follows their perambulations around Europe. Society shuns Halo because she is still married. Vance of course is fine because he is a man and Wharton makes her point forcefully. Vance seems much more self-absorbed in this sequel:
“The next morning Vance announced that he meant to spend at least a month at Cordova. He said “I mean” as naturally as if the decision concerned only himself and he would not for the world have restricted his companion’s liberty … It was not that he was forgetful of her, but that, now they were together his heart was satisfied, while the hunger of his mind was perpetual and insatiable.”
There is much about the male artist/writer taking his companion/muse for granted assuming the world is centred on him and what concerns him. The tasks performed by women are taken for granted.
“The mere fact that she was patient with him, didn’t nag, didn’t question, didn’t taunt, somehow added to the sense of her remoteness. Did that curious tolerance make her less woman, less warm to the touch.”
One reviewer has suggested that Wharton is using the Cupid and Psyche myth in the two novels, explaining the suspicion and disenchantment. It is an interesting follow on. Not Wharton’s best but worth reading, although I did find the ending a bit irritating.

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The word for this read would be 'unsatisfying.'

This was the continuation of Vance & Halo's romance & it starts quite abruptly with them travelling to Europe by ship. Halo's (love that name!) husband has sent a communication indicating that he has changed his mind - he won't divorce her. Halo elects not to tell Vance that.

& thus begins the pair's restless wander through Europe. As always with Wharton, the book is beautifully written, well other than the abrupt ending.

The only thing that was an (odd) positive was the portrayal of Halo's status as a 'fallen' woman who could no longer be received. That was so sad. The conventions made it a terrible time for women.

For Wharton completists only.

https://wordpress.com/view/carolshess...

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gods Arrive is the companion book to Edith Wharton’s classic Hudson River Bracketed in which the characters, young promising author, novelist Vance Weston and Halo Tarrant continue their literary relationship and love as they sail together to Europe, defying all convention. It is in France where Vance Weston mingles with other artists of the time including the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce, hanging out in Paris’ left bank neighborhood of Montparnasse. Halo Tarrant has left her husband to accompany Vance Weston believing that her love and support are enough to sustain their relationship. Vance is often characterized as weak and immature and a chance encounter with a woman from his past tests his relationship with Halo. There is also strife as he works on a lengthy novel that Halo feels is lacking in the magic and purity of his other writing. Edith Wharton does a magnificent job of examining the challenges of sustaining a relationship once the initial passion fades. The Gods Arrive further explores the themes of societal expectations and the impact of personal choices with the beautiful writing of Edith Wharton. She also beautifully explores a writer’s struggle for integrity and maturity in the midst of shifting mores and values. In one of my favorite parts of the book was when he was trying to come to terms with his grandmother’s death, secluded, he stays up all night reading one of her favorite books, The Confessions of Saint Augustine. But before he had read a few pages, he saw that it was one of the timeless books with which chronology is unconcerned.

“Who was this man who reached out across the centuries to speak to him as never man had spoken before? He felt his whole life summed up in each of these piercing phrases.”

[Mela]

I am sorry, but I don't want to read it. From the beginning, it was obvious that it was going to be (probably among other topics) about a woman sacrificing herself for a man-artist. In Hudson River Bracketed Halo was sacrificing herself for one man, here she was going to do it for another one. I do find it an interesting topic, and perhaps Edith Wharton did a good study in this book (next to the study of the struggles of an artist) - yet, I found the narration not enough gripping. Perhaps, like with "Hudson River Bracketed" I should have forced myself and I would have found it more gripping later in the story - but I don't have strength now. It is the third book in a row that I have abandoned, so perhaps I am in a kind of a "weak mood", in which I am less prone to give a book more chance.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book of The Gods Arrive has the tone of one of those hideous romantic comedies where the woman has it all together but the boyfriend is a slacker pot-smoking couch potato. Halo Tarrant has left her husband Lewis and is fleeing to Europe with her younger lover, novelist Vance Weston. They bounce around Spain for a bit, with Halo thinking herself Vance's sensible Reader and critic as he embarks on a new novel. She is mistaken in this: whenever she makes suggestions, whether about the writing itself or how he ought to go about it, and where, Vance tunes her out. When the new buddy he meets, a man named Alders who looks like a freckle, makes the same suggestions, Vance hears them as if new and fresh, and eagerly follows them. For Vance, ideas and women are incompatible, two separate spheres. Halo steels herself to Vance's attitudes, lowers her ambitions for the relationship, and they move on to the south of France. Halo is hopefully waiting for her husband to grant her a divorce, but soon realizes this will not be forthcoming, and is treated as a pariah by the people they meet who disapprove of unmarried couples living together. (The time period is the mid-twenties.) Then, Vance runs into a woman from his past.

This certainly isn't Wharton's best, but it's not an entirely horrible novel. Wharton nails human psychology in her characterizations of the weak Vance and the strong, yet self-effacing Halo. It has dashes of wit and perspicacity:

Her inarticulateness, which used to make her seem sullen, had acquired an aesthetic grace.

---

"A little man who looks like a freckle?"
"Well - I guess so," she said hesitatingly, as if analogies were unfamiliar to her.

I always like seeing what Wharton names her characters. For me Vance Weston is a dud - the whiff of Ayn Rand. But she has some winners here: Imp Pevensey is an older American society dame; Gratz Blemer a stolid novelist; Honoré Shunts the doughy, weepy scion of a nouveau riche industrial family.

N----- count: 1.

In his heart of hearts he'd rather slave in an editor's office than nigger for rich morons as poor Alders did...

[John Purcell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make sure you read Hudson River Bracketed first.

The God Arrive could be renamed A Portrait of a Young Areshole Artist. Vance isn't too appealing but I did find much to admire in the novel. Not his character so much but others things. I wouldn't recommend you rush to read this, but I'm getting the impression all Edith Wharton's novels are worth the price of admission.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Gods Arrive is a sequel to Hudson River Bracketed, and unfortunately, I liked it even less. When it begins, Halo Tarrant has left her husband in order to live with Vance Weston and serve his genius as she tried to serve her husband's lesser talents. Inevitably, this doesn't work out, as Vance can't settle to work anywhere and is ensnared by a previous love, while Halo tries vainly to keep on supporting him.

There's almost none of the excellent depiction of the writing life which saved Hudson River Bracketed for me, and that's a particularly big problem here. In order to believe that self-aware, intelligent Halo is really willing to subject herself to Vance and his career, I would have had to believe that he really is a writing genius. There were enough hints of this in the first book to keep me going, but not here. I think it's quite possible that this is what Wharton was actually after, showing this capable, smart woman in thrall to mediocrity instead of genius, but it just didn't work for me.

I would only recommend these two to rabid Wharton completists, and I'm glad I'm not ending my Wharton reading project with them; I still have The Buccaneers and a couple of volumes of short stories (Roman Fever and The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton) to look forward to.

[Christopher Sutch · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this novel is _somewhat_ more tolerable than its companion-predecessor _Hudson River Bracketed_, it still is work that is a pale version of Wharton at her best. Occasional bits of her brilliance peek out from the abstract and (frankly) clunky prose, but these works are so long, so boring, and so damned distasteful (thanks to Wharton's characterization of the artistic "genius" Vance Weston--who produces nothing of artistic merit in either book, so far as the reader is able to glean) that reading them is something only a Wharton enthusiast should do (and I am one!). Critic Marilyn French, who provided the afterwords to both of these last of Wharton's novels in the editions I read them, attempts to argue for the worth of this latter volume's artistic merit on the grounds that it still has relevance for second wave feminists; in doing so, however, she engages in some of the second-wave's myopia regarding class, race, and historical context (Wharton's novel is a "universal" representation of the relationships between men and women, she claims). But Weston's sheer idiocy, which Whartons seems to intentionally highlight more in this novel than she did in _Hudson River Bracketed_, would seem to argue against such a generous interpretation. It's quite possible, of course, that I just don't "get" these novels. I hope that's true, because that would mean that Wharton had some ingenious plan or statement that she made that could sail right over the head of this reader. But I'd still point my friends to _The Reef_ or _The Custom of the Country_ or _The Age of Innocence_ over this stuff.

[Claire McMillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a rabid Edith fan and a writer, the book was fascinating for its insights on the writing life and also for my own pop-psychologized extrapolating from the characters to Edith's own tortured love affair with Morton Fullerton and her life long 'friendship' with maybe lover Water Berry (to whom she dedicated the book). Halo Tarrant is both high-principled and a doormat. Her motivations obscured to me perhaps by time, perhaps by Edith's own views of love. The characters were unknowable and perplexing in their decisions and motivations, wooden almost. Floss Delaney, the counter point to Halo, was a hastily drawn piece of cardboard and Vance's love for her baffling because of it. Had I not been enjoying it as an insight into Edith's mindset toward the end of her life, I would have stopped. Louis Auchincloss famously posited (paraphrasing) that the Mother's Recompense was the last of her great books and that everything that came after was weighted with heavy moral judgments and little understanding of the heart.
That said, it's full of gems describing the writing life, the vacuousness of celebrity and jewel-like mini descriptions of society characters, which kept me reading. As an insight into Edith the woman and writer, it was a treat. However, as an exploration of love and the human heart, it didn't move me.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not realize that this book was a sequel to Hudson River Bracketed. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read that novel first, so I recommend reading them in order.

This is the story of a young self-absorbed writer, Vance Weston, and his older lover, Halo. Her husband has left her, and she in turn leaves the country with Vance -- before the divorce is finalized. The scandal created by this rash behavior creates much of the novel's tension as the lovers move among various social circles.

The novel explores two main subjects: first, how writers do what they do. One wonders how much of Wharton's own experiences as a writer become fodder for Vance's creative process -- with the twist that he is a man, and is therefore freer to be a writer, than Wharton herself was in her time. He swings between blithe visits from the Muse and tortured writer's blocks, never able to simply set himself to work because he must, as Halo advises him.

The second topic is that of the male/female dynamic. Halo does all for Vance, while Vance does all for himself. The constant shifts of power and trust between Vance and Halo, Halo and her husband, and Vance and his former flame, keep reminding us of the inequality between men and women. The solution achieved at the end will, I think (hope?) be unsatisfactory to most modern feminist readers.

[Haleigh DeRocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a slowwwww burn.
The Gods Arrive is the companion novel to Hudson River Bracketed, and really should be considered the second volume in one continuous story. It chronicles the lives of unmarried lovers Vance Weston and Halo Tarrant as they begin a life together after Halo separates from her husband.

The first half of the book was meandering and rather slow; it wasn't until 250 pages or so in that a central conflict emerged. Even still, the character building in this story is incredible. I enjoyed getting to know Vance and Halo better, and after a combined nearly thousand pages of getting to know them throughout the two books, I am sad to let their story go. Though Vance was an utter idiot throughout most of this book, I thought the way Wharton developed his character was immaculate and realistic. There is no satire or caricaturization to be found here, in my opinion. I enjoyed Wharton's expression of the artistic spirit in Vance's development as a writer. To anyone who has dreams of becoming a novelist, I highly recommend both this book and it's predecessor.

I will say, it is hard to believe that the same woman who wrote Ethan Frome wrote this behemoth of a story. They differ drastically; Wharton wrote HRB and TGA at the end of her life, so perhaps that had something to do with it. I couldn't help but wonder if some of the occurrences in the book and the cynicism that laces the story had to do with her own jilted love affair with Morton Fullerton, or her failed marriage with Teddy Wharton.

This is not a book I would recommend if you are new to Wharton. In fact, if it's your first or second or even third Wharton you would probably hate it. But if you're familiar with her work and her life, I highly recommend both books in this series. Be sure you devote time to it, though, and be prepared to leave a little piece of your heart behind when you finish 💔

[Gwladys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coup de cœur pour ce roman qui est la suite de « Sur les rives de l’Hudson », ce que j’ignorais lorsque je l’ai acheté. J’aurais aimé que ce soit indiqué quelque part mais avoir lu le premier tome n’est pas nécessaire à la compréhension (et à l’appréciation) de l’histoire ; le passé des personnages est évoqué, ainsi que leurs liens, et on perçoit qu’un traitement a déjà été fait dans un roman précédent, mais c’est tout.

J’aime beaucoup la place accordée aux descriptions dans les romans d’Edith Wharton, toujours très évocatrices ; elles ne sont pas très longues et interviennent régulièrement au cours du récit, et c’est une forme que j’affectionne particulièrement. Dans ‘Les Dieux arrivent’, elles sont d’autant plus délectables que les personnages principaux nous entraînent dans leurs voyages à travers l’Europe (plus précisément : Espagne, France, Angleterre). De milieux d’artistes à ceux d’une élite mondaine, en passant par une certaine autarcie, chacun aura à faire face à ses propres problèmes. Pour Halo, il s’agit de sa condition de femme séparée de son mari qui la tient éloignée des cercles de sa classe sociale et en quelque sorte l’impossibilité de sa relation actuelle, du moins comme elle le souhaiterait ; pour Vance c’est sa difficulté à résister à l’influence de ceux qu’il fréquente et à parvenir à écrire ses romans. Il y a quelque chose de particulièrement irritant chez ce dernier, dans son incapacité à se mettre au travail ; d’excuses en changements de projets, il se laisse distraire avec une facilité déconcertante, et trouve du génie à n’importe qui.

L’autrice nous présente une belle galerie de personnages futiles qui ne semblent briller en société que par la conscience de leur importance et leur faculté à s’en donner. On assiste avec une certaine ironie à leurs faiblesses, à leurs discours vides rarement suivis d’action. Ironie qui n’est cependant pas vraiment perceptible de la part de l’autrice, qui m’a paru conserver une position assez neutre ; la société est dépeinte avec un grand sens du détail, colorée tour à tour par les points de vue de Halo et de Vance, mais le lecteur reste avant tout juge de ce qui lui est dévoilé. De mon point de vue de féministe contemporaine, j’ai une certaine appréciation que n’auront peut-être pas d’autres lecteurs ou lectrices. Et d’ailleurs, j’espérais un aboutissement tout différent pour Halo qui à mon sens n’est clairement pas appréciée à sa juste valeur par Vance.

En dépit de mes espoirs déçus, j’ai vraiment adoré ce roman, j’aime la plume d’Edith Wharton, sa grande finesse dans le traitement de ses sujets, et la justesse incroyable de sa vision. Je ne saurais que trop recommander ce roman qui m’a particulièrement donné envie d’en découvrir d’autres de l’autrice.

[Diane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it's the passage of time and the changing of mores, but this it the first Edith Wharton novel I've read that didn't fascinate me. I had a tough time connecting with Vance Weston - though this is supposed to be a portrait of his weakness, I found I needed some ways to sympathize with his plight in order to think of him as anything but a bit of a loser. As opposed to Lucius Harney in Summer, who is also weak, but a far more compellingly-drawn character.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written early work of Edith Wharton. You can see beginnings of the deveopment of the Age of Innocense.

[Gina Dalfonzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and full of psychological insight. Vance and Halo are two very frustrating characters, but all too realistic.

[Julie Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is not Wharton's best, but it carries on her interest in relationships and the role of women in society. I enjoyed it very much.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Être une femme dans les années 20, ou comment être libre dans un monde d'hommes, sans se soumettre à la bien pensance et garder son intégrité.

[Andrew Coffey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've reached the age where I don't feel a moral obligation to finish a book so the simple fact that I stayed with this is a plus. Wharton's writing is always accessible and propulsive, though there were some jarring aspects to the book--more my perceptions than her construction, I imagine. This was written in the 1930s so there are cocktails and cigarettes and bare shoulders where books like The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth were more modified bustles and afternoon sherry. Still, the ending felt like a throwback to an earlier era when Victorian novelists had to tie things up neatly at the conclusion.
I think my biggest disappointment was how unlikeable the majority of the characters were. Leaving Vance Weston aside (and that's a big aside), Alders, Chris, Floss, and most of the peripheral socialites were shallow, self-centered, grasping individuals. I don't think I'd want to spend much time with them in real life and I couldn't bring myself to enjoy their company on the page.
One unexpected enjoyment was the brief appearance of Octavius: "I'm buried in that ('my own writing') up to the chin, buried alive..." "The day I'm assured of that (' a clear stretch of twenty years') I'll sit down and finish my book." Tolby: "He's writing a big book about something or other--I can't remember what. But everyone agrees it's going to be cataclysmic--there'll be nothing left standing but Octavius." And finally, "Octavius's small face withered and he looked more than ever like an anxious child. Hs glance swept over Charlie, searing him like flame. 'Is that by way of apology for the book's not being finished?' he exclaimed, his voice rising to a high falsetto.
It all sounded familiar and brought up and brought up an image after a few minutes: Truman Capote! Did Wharton provide a template for Truman to adopt later?
All in all, I'm glad I read the book, though I think Vance is a poor kind of protagonist and Halo ultimately compromises her independence.

[Mark Ludmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A direct sequel to Wharton’s Hudson River Bracketed, picking up on the story of writer Vance Weston after his reunion with his soulmate, Halo Spear Tarrant. Overall, it is a continuing portrait of the artist as a foolish and self-obsessed young man, charting Vance’s efforts to build on his early success by writing more novels. He and Halo follow the classic route of American artists to travel round Europe, from Spain to the south of France, plus a trip by Vance to London, which Wharton mostly uses to satirise Americans abroad, especially bohemians and writers. The novel also charts the couple’s relationship, with Vance focusing only on his work and Halo sacrificing her identity to support the burgeoning “genius”. Vance himself is torn between the intellectual, emotional attraction to Halo and his physical attraction to unsuitable women, namely his materialistic childhood sweetheart, Floss Delaney. The book also depicts the patriarchal, misogynist society of the 1920s and 1930s, most strikingly in Halo’s displacement through being separated but not divorced from her husband, Lewis Tarrant, while living with Vance like a married couple. It is a compelling read, heightened by Wharton’s accomplished writing in terms of both style and character. While it might be possible to read this as a stand-alone novel, it really would be best to read Hudson River Bracketed first as it features nearly all the same characters.

[Cgallozzi]

Two aspiring writers - fall in love, and unmarried, travel together to Europe.
The novel discuss subjects such as creativity (the creation of art), love, marriage and contrasts between then American with then European standard of morality.

Wharton also describes a network of 'high society' with their own issues - see "Age of Innocence" and "Customs of the Country". The heroine is different in some ways - more radical having a baby out of wedlock - but not too different than Eloena Olenska in "Age of Innocence" - who flirts with divorce from an overbearing Polish (?) Count.

Perhaps one of the reasons "high society" had rules which were enforced is a belief that deviating from its rules - meant that 'n' people would be hurt. Indeed Halo and Vance 'hurt' many many members of their network.

I found the ending ambiguous - in that Halo reconciles with her husband while remaining in love and is pregnant with his child.

Not my favorite Edith Wharton - but still contains magical character analysis and development.

Well worth reading for those who follow Edith Wharton.

Carl Gallozzi
Cgallozzi@comcast.net

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can see Wharton’s tight and delicious writing style throughout this book. Beyond that, I’m not enamored with the characters nor plot.

Many times thought this book I felt that Wharton was sharing autobiographical glimpses into her life as a writer, and the difficulty of sustaining passion for one book. Often this theme felt more substantial than the theme of the love story between Halo and Vance, our main characters.

Halo is enigmatic and also takes on aspects of a woman Wharton may have aspired to be - particularly in her relationship with Morton Fullerton. However, because the point of view shifts so often to Vance and away from Halo, her character becomes washed out.

I’d not realized that this story followed that of “Hudson River Bracketed,” one of her only novels I have yet to read, so that may have helped me to connect more deeply to a continuing plot line if I had read it first.

[Javier Dávila · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 points.
It's not always easy to be convinced. Many of the characters' reactions are illogical. Perhaps this is due to the passage of time, but I would also say it has to do with the wear and tear of Wharton's craft. Often, she resolves the novel's progression with sheer skill, rather than with artistic intent.
It's the last novel Wharton completed, and that gives it a particular interest.
No spoilers, but didn't like the end. The story should not finish that way.

[Diem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, that's it. I've now read all of Wharton's novels, most of her short stories, some of her non-fiction. I'm nearing the end of this long investigation and honestly, this was her favorite of her novels, but it wasn't mine by a long shot. I did not like the ending and overall I found it challenging to enjoy. I'm going to read more about why this was her favorite to see if I can be brought around, but I don't know.