The Reef

Written in 1912, "The Reef" presents a minutely rendered anatomy of social ambiguity, focused on the intricately independent lives of three American expatriates in France. Brilliant and compelling, the work serves as a revealing document in modern sexual history.

When she was young, Anna Summers married a wealthy American named Fraser Leath, whose one real passion was his collection of snuffboxes. Really Wouldn't you just know how well that'd work out? And then Mr. Snuffbox snuffs it, and Anna runs into an old acquaintance, George Darrow, who "still" wants to marry her. Until he gets involved with a poor girl named Sophie Viner . . . It sounds like the stuff of soap opera, but this is an Edith Wharton novel. And it really is something special, even if the plot does sound like something from "The Days of Our Lives," If you haven't read Edith Wharton, you're in for a treat.