“Almost enough to make one question, if this is tragedy, then whose?”

Another brief, tight, tragic novel from the master of rural Americana. Wharton’s Summer, similar to her better-known Ethan Frome, in some ways surpasses it, mostly in nuance and theme. While Ethan’s love of Maddie is overtly tragic both in conception and in realization, here Charity’s infatuation with Lucius is not equally foolish, and the role of the older gatekeeper Mr. Royall hardly as stark as Zenobia Frome.

What results is what Wharton herself called “the hot Ethan,” and the sensuous details of the rural summer are played to the extreme (again in contrast to the near-eternal winter of Frome). We have a petulant and almost deliberately ignorant Charity Royall who is difficult to respect; still, her desire to love who she chooses (especially one her own generation) is just enough. And if readers know Wharton at all, they know from the start that this will not work out happily–not a spoiler.

The conclusion, however, is fairly controversial, and not because it imitates the grotesque, almost absurd fate of Ethan Frome. No, it is far more realistic for all that, but what I found most interesting is the complexity of Charity’s guardian, Mr. Royall, which is never fully revealed through the narrative, yet is ever-present in the limited glimpses we are offered of it through our teen protagonist Charity. Almost enough to make one question, if this is tragedy, then whose?

This is definitely an under-appreciated and evocative read.