Into the narrow social world of New York in the 1870s comes Countess Ellen Olenska, surrounded by shocked whispers about her failed marriage to a rich Polish Count. A woman who leaves her husband can never be accepted in polite society.
Newland Archer is engaged to young May Welland, but the beautiful and mysterious Countess needs his help. He becomes her friend and defender, but friendship with an unhappy, lonely woman is a dangerous path for a young man to follow – especially a young man who is soon to be married.
Glossary
- admire to have a very good opinion of someone or something; admiration (n)
- affair (in this story) a sexual relationship outside marriage
- announce to tell people something officially; announcement (n)
- atmosphere the feeling or mood that a person has in a particular place or situation
- ball a formal party for dancing
- bear (v) to suffer pain or unhappiness; bearable (adj)
- best man a male friend or relative of the bridegroom who assists him at his wedding
- blush (v) to become red in the face, especially when embarrassed
- box a small seating area in a theatre separated off from where other people sit
- bridegroom a man on his wedding day
- bridesmaid a young woman or girl who helps a bride before and during the wedding ceremony
- brilliant very bright; clever; successful
- brilliantly brightly; extremely
- bunch (of flowers) a number of flowers fastened together
- carriage a vehicle, pulled by horses, for carrying people
- court-case a criminal or legal matter which involves a trial
- Count a title for a man of noble family
- Countess a title for the wife of a Count
- daughter-in-law your son’s wife; son-in-law your daughter’s husband
- debt money that is owed to someone; a feeling of owing something to someone
- despair (n) a feeling of hopelessness
- disapprove to think that someone or something is bad or wrong
- dishonour a loss of honour or respect because someone has done something bad or unacceptable
- Duke a title for a man of the highest social position
- embarrass to put people in a difficult situation, to make people feel uncomfortable
- exotic seeming exciting or unusual because it is connected with foreign countries
- familiar (with) knowing something very well
- fiancée the woman whom a man is going to marry
- financial connected with money and finance
- firm (n) a company or business
- fur the skin of an animal with the hair still on it
- gentleman a man of good family who always behaves well
- give up to allow someone else to have someone or something
- good taste (in this story) the ability to behave in a way that society considers correct
- heaven a place or situation in which people are very happy
- honeymoon a holiday for a man and woman who have just got married
- honour the quality of knowing and doing what is morally right
- mistress a woman who is having a sexual relationship with a man she is not married to
- Monsieur the French word for ‘Mr’ or ‘sir’
- mourn to feel and show sadness because someone has died
- noble being courageous and honest, thinking about other people; nobility (n)
- old-fashioned not modern, no longer fashionable
- opera a dramatic work in which most of the words are sung to music
- pure morally good; purity (n)
- respect (v) to admire or have a high opinion of someone because of their good qualities
- ribbons thin pieces of material worn on a woman’s dress or hair
- right (n) a thing that people are allowed to do or have
- rule (n) a fixed instruction that must be obeyed
- scandal behaviour or events that people think are shocking or wicked; talk or reports about someone’s shocking behaviour
- scene a part of a play in which the action happens in one place
- shutters metal or wooden covers for windows, to keep out the heat and light
- sleeve the part of a shirt, coat, etc. that covers the arm
- stroke (n) a sudden serious illness when a blood vessel in the brain bursts
- telegram a short urgent message sent by electric current along wires, and then printed and delivered
- tempt to attract someone, or to make someone want to do something
- temptation the desire to do something that you know is wrong
- trust (v) to have confidence in someone
- victory winning or achieving something
- virgin a person who has never had sex
- vulgar low, common, coarse, lacking in manners
- wicked evil, of bad character
- worthwhile important, valuable, useful