Kate Chopin's compelling, candid portrait of a woman attempting to seek a life beyond her role as devoted wife and mother was considered dangerous when first published in 1899 The Pontellier family are spending a hot, lazy holiday on the Gulf of Mexico. No-one expects that Edna Pontellier should be preoccupied with anything more than her husband and children. When an illicit summer romance awakens new ideas and longings in Edna, she can barely understand herself, and cannot hope for aid or acceptance in the stifling attitudes of Louisiana society. Now considered a classic, this tale of...

The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the end of the nineteenth century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing patriarchal attitudes of the turn-of-the-century South. It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also one of the most important novels written by an American woman in the nineteenth century (perhaps second only to Harriet Beecher...

Published in 1899, The Awakening ignited a firestorm of controversy. Reviewers criticized the book for its tacit endorsement of adultery, its frank depiction of a woman's sexual frustration, and its overt rejection of conventional expectations for women's roles and behaviour. Chopin's best-known and acclaimed work is presented here with a selection of her other fiction, as well as her poetry, journalism, and letters. A selection of contemporary reviews and historical materials on women's rights, sexuality, and etiquette, are also included.

Kate Chopin's classic book of 23 masterful short stories shows rural life in Louisiana after the American Civil War and how former slaves, people of color, women, poor whites, and wealthy whites chafed against social restrictions. Lightly edited for modern readers, including translations from French and standardized spelling, the bones of the stories are just as she told them with no changes to plot or settings. Best of all the book includes the original unedited versions in appendices.