The Mother’s Recompense (Annotated)

This edition includes the following editor's introduction: Edith Wharton, the feminism of a Pulitzer Prize winner

Originally published in 1925, "The Mother’s Recompense" is one of the last novels by the American writer Edith Wharton.

Opening on the French Riviera among a motley community of American expatriates, "The Mother's Recompense" tells the story of Kate Clephane and her reluctant return to New York society after being exiled years before for abandoning her husband and infant daughter. Curiously, Kate has been summoned back by that same daughter, Anne, now fully grown and intent on marrying Chris Fenno, a war hero, dilettante, and social opportunist. Chris's questionable intentions toward her daughter are, however, the least of Kate's worries since she was once, and still is, deeply in love with him.

Kate's moral quandary and the ensuing drama evoke comparison with “Oedipus” and “Hamlet” and lead to an ending that startled the mores of the day.