The Awakening, with eBook Lib/E

Edna Pontellier is married, twenty-eight, and at a crossroads in her life. She is passionate and artistic but has no one who understands her deep yearnings. She jumps at the chance to spend a summer away from her husband and the heat of New Orleans at a small coastal retreat. Enveloped by a small circle of friends, she begins to throw off the strictures of the 1890s bourgeoisie. Stepwise, Edna renounces her obligations, takes a lover, and is propelled on a course that frees, consumes, and eventually destroys her. In what was to be her last novel, Kate Chopin shocked the audiences of her day by depicting a woman being fulfilled by throwing off the ties of marriage and children.

Kate Chopin (1851-1901) was born Katherine O'Flaherty in St. Louis in 1851. She was a popular social belle, admired for her wit and beauty. In 1871 she married Oscar Chopin and lived in Louisiana until his sudden death in 1882. Chopin began writing about the Creole and Cajun people in the South, gaining acclaim for her finely crafted short stories. Upon publication in 1899, her now-classic novel The Awakening was widely condemned for its controversial themes, and Chopin was devastated by its harsh critical reception. She died in 1904, denied in her lifetime the recognition she desperately wanted and richly deserved.