Book Description:

For fans of The Paris Wife, a sparkling glimpse into the life of Edith Wharton and the scandalous love affair that threatened her closest friendship

They say behind every great man is a woman. Behind Edith Wharton, there was Anna Bahlmann—her governess turned literary secretary, and her mothering, nurturing friend.

When at the age of forty-five, Edith falls passionately in love with a dashing younger journalist, Morton Fullerton, and is at last opened to the world of the sensual, it threatens everything certain in her life but especially her abiding friendship with Anna. As Edith’s marriage crumbles and Anna’s disapproval threatens to shatter their lifelong bond, the women must face the fragility at the heart of all friendships.

Told through the points of view of both women, The Age of Desire takes us on a vivid journey through Wharton’s early Gilded Age world: Paris with its glamorous literary salons and dark secret cafés, the Whartons’ elegant house in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Henry James’s manse in Rye, England.

Edith’s real letters and intimate diary entries are woven throughout the book. The Age of Desire brings to life one of literature’s most beloved writers, whose own story was as complex and nuanced as that of any of the heroines she created.

My Thoughts:

I loved this book!  Now that I know more about the author herself, I can see some of herself in her characters.  Though this book is fiction, it is based on Wharton’s life and affair with Morton Fullerton.  

Her marriage was difficult.  Teddy seemed to really love Edith but it was pretty one sides.  However, in all fairness to Edith, and other women in that day and age, she had no idea what to expect from marriage or even what was suppose to happen in the marriage bed.  She tried to discussed what she should expect from marriage with her mother bus she just brushed her off.  It seemed her mother never had time for her daughter.

At times, I wanted to scream at her, “you deserve better than Fullerton!”  He was such a cad!  I loved Edith’s relationship with Anna Bahlmann.  Anne was her governess when Edith was a child and then became her secretary and friend.  I think she expected too much from Anne at times but Anne loved Edith and would do just about anything for her.  She also acted as caregiver to Teddy, at times.  I loved how her character was fleshed out by Ms. Fields.  I think a book could be written about Anne or at least from her point of view.

I really could go on and on about this book but I don;t want to risk spoilers.  I will say that there was one little thing that I would have like to know in the end.  My guess is most readers wouldn’t care one way or another, but the “type A” in me wanted to know.

 If you love historical fiction and/or you are a fan of Edith Wharton, this be is a must!

4.75/5

I received the ebook courtesy of the publisher and Amy over at Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for my honest review.

About Jennie Fields:

Born in the heart of the heart of the country – Chicago — Jennie Fields decided to become a writer at the age of six and produced her first (365 page!) novel when she was eleven.  She received her MFA at the Iowa Writers Workshop and published her first short stories while spending a postgraduate year at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.  But needing to feed her family  in the era just post-Mad Men, she became an early female copywriter at an advertising agency, soon rising to creative director and moving to New York.  In her 32-year advertising career, she wrote and produced many well-known and award-winning commercials.  People even now can embarrass her by telling her they grew up dancing to one of her McDonalds’ jingles. 

Still, fiction was her great love.  Writing during her lunch hour and after her daughter’s bedtime she penned her first novel, Lily Beach, which was published by Atheneum in 1993 to much acclaim.  Since then, she’s written three more novels including Crossing Brooklyn Ferry and The Middle Ages. Her latest, The Age of Desire, is a biographical novel based on the life of the author dearest to her heart, Edith Wharton.  An Editor’s Choice of the New York Times Book Review, it describes Wharton’s mid-life love affair with a you

nger, manipulative man.  Why the affinity to Wharton?  Because she wrote about people attempting to break society’s expectations for them – which is something Fields has been yearning to do all her life.

For more information, please visit Jennie’s website.

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