The Choice 1916

At a lavish summer dinner at Highfield, Austin Wrayford watches Cobham Stilling turn wealth into spectacle, boasting endlessly about his carefully chosen motor-boat while the guests orbit his vanity. Yet Wrayford's attention keeps returning to Isabel Stilling, whose quiet reserve and inward strength suggest a deeper life beneath the polished social surface. Behind the glittering conversation, there are signs of financial strain, marital unease, and a bond between Isabel and Wrayford that neither can safely name. When Stilling later presses Wrayford to deliver a message about a loan and a note Isabel must sign, the comedy of manners gives way to something far darker. Wrayford descends to the boathouse by the lake and finds Isabel waiting in the night, where their urgent, forbidden exchange lays bare her trapped existence: she has stayed for the sake of Stilling's mother, their son, and the lies that hold the household together. As Stilling's reckless debts, drinking, and selfish control come into focus, the hidden crisis erupts into a terrifying midnight struggle that ends in sudden catastrophe, leaving one man lost in the darkness and a family forever altered. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

Edith Wharton est née à New York en 1862. Elle est l'auteur de nombreux livres, comme Sur les rives de l'Hudson, Les dieux arrivent ou La récompense d'une mère. Venue s'installer en France, elle rédige son autobiographie, Les chemins parcourus, et meurt en 1937. Avec Le temps de l'innocence, elle est la première femme à obtenir le prix Pulitzer. Le roman a été adapté au cinéma par Martin Scorsese.