Edith Wharton

"Summer" is the story of the sexual awakening of the young woman, Charity Royall. Charity, the daughter of mountain moonshiners, is adopted by a poor New England family and falls for Lucius Harney, an educated young man from the city. "Summer" is the story of a young girl coming to terms with her feelings and sexuality in an environment of overwhelming social pressure in early 20th century America.

Summer

Phoebe

Education and opportunity has divided them by a width that no effort of hers could bridge, and even when his youth and admiration brought him nearest, some chance of word, some unconscious allusion, seemed to thrust her back across the gulf.

It was a joy for Charity to sing: it seemed as though, for the first time, her secret rapture might burst from her and flash it's defiance at the world. All the glow in her blood, the breath of the summer earth, the rustle of the forest, the fresh call of birds at sunrise, and the brooding midday languors, seemed to pass into her untrained voice, lifted and led by the sustaining chorus.

The feeling possessing her was not one of jealousy: she was too sure of his love. It was rather a terror of the unknown, of all the mysterious attractions that must even now be dragging him away from her, and of her own powerlessness to contend with them.

Summer quotes

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