Edith Wharton's little discussed Jazz Age classic, The Mother's Recompense (1925), finds Kate Clephane returning to New York society, after abandoning her husband and three-year-old daughter years before.
American Kate Clephane has lived in Europe for twenty years, the ghosts of a failed marriage and abandoned daughter haunting her as she drifts along the French Riviera. It is an aimless, turbulent life, lived in the company of other expats and outcasts, the scars of World War I still evident across the continent.
When Kate is summoned back to New York by the very daughter (now a wealthy heiress) she once abandoned, Kate leaps at the chance to re-enter the world that previously shut its doors on her. Just as Kate is on the cusp of reclaiming the life she forfeited, Chris Fenno, her former lover, returns to the scene, this time as a suitor for Kate's daughter.
For Kate, this disaster cuts two ways, for not only is Chris an opportunistic and feckless man, but he also remains the love of Kate's life. Thus begins a complex and intricate dance of secrets, desires, scandal, and shifting motives.
The Mother's Recompense is a brilliant commentary on freedom, motherhood, agency, and duty. It explores the full weight of the choices we make as we try and fail to reinvent and reimagine ourselves. Wharton's gifts for wit, dialogue, and image are put to stunning use in this riveting social drama that sees New York society shaken to its very foundations.
| ISBN: | 9781961884939 |
| Publication date: | 26th November 2026 |
| Author: | Edith Wharton |
| Publisher: | Smith & Taylor Classics an imprint of The Unnamed Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 272 pages |
| Series: | Smith & Taylor Classics |
| Genres: |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
Edith Wharton's little discussed Jazz Age classic, The Mother's Recompense (1925), finds Kate Clephane returning to New York society, after abandoning her husband and three-year-old daughter years before. American Kate Clephane has lived in Europe for twenty years, the ghosts of a failed marriage and abandoned daughter haunting her as she drifts along the French Riviera. It is an aimless, turbulent life, lived in the company of other expats and outcasts, the scars of World War I still evident across the continent. When Kate is summoned back to New York by the very daughter (now a wealthy heiress) she once abandoned, Kate leaps at the chance to re-enter the world that previously shut its doors on her.
The Mother's Recompense features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction
Paperback, Hardback. £11.69, down from the £12.99 cover price. Not Available.
The Mother's Recompense was written by Edith Wharton and published by Smith & Taylor Classics an imprint of The Unnamed Press
The Mother's Recompense has 272 pages
Yes it is part of Smith & Taylor Classics series
£11.69, reduced from £12.99. Not Available.