Engaged to marry socialite May Welland, Newland Archer meets Countess Ellen Olenska, a woman unbound by convention and surrounded by scandal, and is forced to decide between happiness and the social code that has ruled his life.In a society where people?dreaded scandal more than disease," passion was a force of ruin. Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is set amidst the pre-World War I?Golden Age" of upper-class society in New York, and is framed by society's strict moral code. When soon-to-be-wed Newland Archer finds himself enraptured by his bride-to-be's code-flouting cousin, he faces a turbulent battle between passion and social value. One of the great masterpieces in American literature, The Age of Innocence is now available as part of the Word Cloud Class.