The Awakening

Kate Chopin's groundbreaking novel follows Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother in late 19th-century New Orleans, who awakens to desires — artistic, sexual, and intellectual — that her… Read more

Kate Chopin's groundbreaking novel follows Edna Pontellier, a young wife and mother in late 19th-century New Orleans, who awakens to desires — artistic, sexual, and intellectual — that her conventional marriage and Creole society cannot accommodate. As she asserts her independence, she risks everything. Condemned on publication in 1899 for its frank treatment of female sexuality, the novel is now recognized as a landmark of early feminist literature. Show less