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The Edith Wharton BBC Radio Drama Collection
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  • Published: 21 May 2020
  • ISBN: 9781787539419
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 16 hr 17 min
  • Narrators: Anna Massey, Ben Miles, Eleanor Bron, Tom Hollander, Jessica Raine, Don Gilet, Sian Thomas, Dan Stevens
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The Edith Wharton BBC Radio Drama Collection

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A BBC radio collection of full-cast dramatisations bringing together Edith Wharton’s most popular and best-loved works.

BBC radio productions of classic works by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton - plus two bonus documentaries

American author Edith Wharton is renowned for her merciless satires of marriage and money, set in the upper-class milieu into which she was born. Included here are a superb selection of her novels, short stories and plays, recorded for BBC Radio - as well as two programmes exploring her life and work.

The House of Mirth - Bewitching socialite Lily Bart is hunting for a wealthy husband - but time is running out... Starring June Barrie, Carole Mowlam and Keith Alexander.

Madame de Treymes - John Durham's fight for the woman he loves sparks a confrontation with a powerful and devious French family. Starring Anna Massey and Philip Voss.

The Reef - Jodhi May, Sian Thomas and Ben Miles star in Edith Wharton's neglected classic following the complicated love lives of four Americans in France.

The Age of Innocence - Recently engaged Newland Archer is drawn to his fiancee's cousin, the exotic, independent Countess Ellen Olenska. Starring Eleanor Bron, Ryan McCluskey and Susan Lynch.

The Custom of the Country- Beautiful Undine Spragg arrives in New York, setting her sights on Ralph Marvell. But will he live up to her expectations? Starring Rebecca Night, Dan Stevens and Tom Hollander.

Ethan Frome - Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Ethan Frome becomes obsessed with his wife's cousin. Dominic Mafham, Jessica Raine and Laurel Lefkow star in this tragic love story set in rural Massachusetts.

The Shadow of a Doubt - Former nurse Kate Derwent carries a terrible secret. Phoebe Fox, Francesca Annis and Paul Ready star in this newly-discovered play from 1901.

Great Lives: Edith Wharton - Naomi Wolf joins presenter Matthew Paris to talk about Wharton and her work.

In Our Time: Edith Wharton - Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wharton's novels of America's Gilded Age.

First published 1901 (The Shadow of a Doubt), 1903 ('The Dilettante'), 1905 (The House of Mirth), 1907 (Madame de Treymes), 1910 ('Afterward'), 1911 (Ethan Frome), 1912 (The Reef), 1913 (The Custom of the Country), 1920 (The Age of Innocence)
  • Published: 21 May 2020
  • ISBN: 9781787539419
  • Imprint: BBC DL
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 16 hr 17 min
  • Narrators: Anna Massey, Ben Miles, Eleanor Bron, Tom Hollander, Jessica Raine, Don Gilet, Sian Thomas, Dan Stevens
Categories:

About the author

Edith Wharton

The upper stratum of New York society into which Edith Wharton was born in 1862 provided her with an abundance of material as a novelist but did not encourage her growth as an artist. Educated by tutors and governesses, she was raised for only one career: marriage. But her marriage, in 1885, to Edward Wharton was an emotional disappointment, if not a disaster. She suffered the first of a series of nervous breakdowns in 1894. In spite of the strain of her marriage, or perhaps because of it, she began to write fiction and published her first story in 1889. Her first published book was a guide to interior decorating, but this was followed by several novels and story collections. They were written while the Whartons lived in Newport and New York, traveled in Europe, and built their grand home, the Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts. In Europe, she met Henry James, who became her good friend, traveling companion, and the sternest but most careful critic of her fiction. The House of Mirth (1905) was both a resounding critical success and a bestseller, as was Ethan Frome (1911). In 1913 the Whartons were divorced, and Edith took up permanent residence in France.  Her subject, however, remained America, especially the moneyed New York of her youth. Her great satiric novel, The Custom of the Country was published in 1913 and The Age of Innocence won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. In her later years, she enjoyed the admiration of a new generation of writers, including Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In all, she wrote some 30 books, including an autobiography, A Backward Glance (1934). She died at her villa near Paris in 1937.
EW

Also by Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence
Summer
Roman Fever
Bewitched
Classic Love Stories: A BBC Radio Drama Collection
Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales
Mr Jones
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