HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Children (1928)

by Edith Wharton

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4891149,849 (3.68)59
On a cruise ship between Algiers and Venice, Martin Boyne, an unmarried engineer in his forties, encounters a wild, ebullient menagerie of stepbrothers and sisters, kept together as a 'family' by the efforts of the eldest, the lovely, fifteen-year-old Judith. Caught between genuine outrage at the plight of the precocious and fought-over children and his disturbing feelings for their fifteen-year-old sister-protector, Boyne finds himself increasingly drawn to their enchanting, improper and liberating ways. But awaiting Boyne in Switzerland is Rose Sellars: tactful, genteel, old New York incarnate, patiently anticipating marriage. Caught between old money and new, Martin Boyne is a tragic and poignant knight errant caught on the cusp of a changing world.… (more)
  1. 00
    What Maisie Knew by Henry James (shaunie)
    shaunie: Similar subject matter (child/children being appallingly treated by their thoughtless parents) - Wharton's book is much more readable and entertaining.
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 59 mentions

English (10)  Spanish (1)  All languages (11)
Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
Rather than the title 'The Children', a more apt title is "Martin and Judith". The plot revolves around them and drowns everything else. Thankfully, Martin did not confess his love for Judith and they did not end up together. It just didn't seem appropriate. ( )
  siok | Nov 4, 2022 |
I have to disagree with the summary, which uses the adjective "comic." This book is heart-breaking. That's really the only reason why I'm not giving it 4 or 5 stars, as I normally would for a Wharton novel. I should expect her cynical endings by now, but with a novel about seven children who only want their parents to notice them, and are always disappointed, the cynical ending is a punch in the gut. ( )
  stephkaye | Dec 14, 2020 |
This is the only Wharton story I can think of that has children as the main characters; she's surprisingly good at writing them. The basic tale follows a middle-aged man who, through a shipboard friendship with a young woman, becomes the nominal guardian of seven children. The children's parents, all jet-setting superficial types who have married and subsequently divorced each other, use the children as pawns in divorce settlements and suchlike--only the children themselves want to stay together as a ragtag little family. I always want to fling Wharton books across the room when I'm done with them, and this was no exception. For all the lack of a happy ending (like this comes as a surprise), it's an almost upbeat book.
( )
  wealhtheowwylfing | Feb 29, 2016 |
I am a big fan of Edith Wharton. She wrote of a time and class that she knew well. She was also a keen observer and wrote with such detail that it is easy to get caught up in her stories. Martin Boyne is on a voyage to Venice when he recognizes his seat mate's name as someone he knew many years ago at Harvard. He is quite surprised when a lovely teenage girl sits down and proceeds to take command of a lively assortment of younger children. When he learns this is the daughter of his friend who is traveling with six "siblings", a governess, and two nurses, he takes the group under his wing. What he had thought would be a lonely voyage quickly turns into fun and games with this loosely related troupe of fun-loving children.

As in all of Wharton's writing, there is a dark side. In this case it is the lax parents who come and go as they please leaving 15-year-old Judith in charge. "The Wheaters," as their children refer to them, have recently reunited after a divorce, but philandering is common in their social group and their reunion with the seven children is short-lived. Wharton shows that things haven't changed all that much in the 86 years since the book was first published. The "smart set" is more concerned with their social status than their duties as parents. As she often does in her books, the author presents difficult circumstances which lead to troublesome outcomes.

While this book isn't in the same exemplary category as her more well-known works, it is very good. I just don't think it was possible for this woman to write a bad book! I would recommend it to fans of Wharton as another example of life in the gilded age. ( )
2 vote Donna828 | Nov 3, 2014 |
The Children is the fourth Edith Wharton novel I have read this year. I have been reflecting on how glad I am that I have come to her fairly late. I first read The House of Mirth many, many years ago, when, I think, I was too young to appreciate her. I then re-read it in January and it remains one of my favourite reads of 2012.
The Children I think is probably a novel that is less well known than some and according to the introduction to my edition by Marilyn French – much less appreciated. Yet I have to say straight off that I loved it.
The subject is one that many people (especially at the time when it was written) may have found rather distasteful – the infatuation of a middle-aged man for a fifteen year old girl. Future readers however will be pleased to know that this story is not Lolita. Judith Wheater is a charmingly honest young girl by turn maternal and childlike whose preoccupations are totally innocent and familial.
“The young face mounting towards him continued to bend over the baby, the girl’s frail shoulders to droop increasingly under their burden, as the congestion ahead of her forced the young lady to maintain her slanting position halfway up the liner’s flank.”
Many Edith Wharton novels are known for their exploration of old New York society into which she was born and within which she lived for many years. This old New York society with its mores, manners and conventions is very much in the background of this novel. The setting is Europe, yet the characters are from the very sections of society that Edith Wharton is famed for writing about.
While travelling by cruise ship between Algiers and Venice Martin Boyne an unmarried engineer from New York – and very much part of that old New York Society, although a poor one - meets the children of the title. Seven children ranging in age from a toddler to a girl of fifteen, they are a group of full blood, half and step siblings who are travelling with their governess and nursery maids. Judith the eldest has taken on the role of surrogate mother to the younger children. The children’s parents a group of self-centred wealthy nouveau riche – who live mainly out of hotels, and think nothing of marrying, divorcing, re-marrying, and squabbling over their children - are the other section of society that Edith Wharton portrays brilliantly, with a satirical slant. Martin is due to meet up with the woman he has loved for many years, Rose Sellars a conventional member of New York society is newly widowed and now free to acknowledge her feelings for Martin which her marriage had not allowed her to do. Drawn into the lives of the Wheaters however, Martin decides to stay for a couple of days in Venice before going on to Switzerland, and here he involves himself further into the lives of the children and their parents.
“Lady Wrench had snatched up her daughter and stood, in an approved film attitude, pressing Zinnie’s damp cheek against her own, while the child’s orange-coloured curls mixed with the red gold of hers. “What’s that nasty beast been doing to momma’s darling?” she demanded, glaring over Zinnie’s head at Judith. “Whipping you for wanting to see your own mother, I suppose? You just tell momma what it was and she’ll…”
The children are determined to stay together, rather than be farmed back out to the various natural or stepparents who decide they want them at one time or another. Martin pledges to help, not admitting even to himself at first, his true infatuation to Judith. Martin does have very real affection for all the children, and does want to help them. However when the group follow him to Switzerland without their parent’s knowledge, Martin’s and Rose’s burgeoning engagement is affected. Martin is endlessly pulled between these two different worlds, the world of polite old New York that is represented by Rose Sellars and the less conventional world of the children.
The characters of the children are wonderful, they are funny and endearing, and the relationships between each of them and with Martin Boyne are poignant and deeply charming. Martin is a fool, but a sympathetic one nonetheless. Martin’s dilemmas and mistakes are age-old ones, the ending inevitable and beautifully poignant. ( )
2 vote Heaven-Ali | Oct 17, 2012 |
Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (5 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Edith Whartonprimary authorall editionscalculated
French, MarilynIntroductionsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
To my patient listeners at Sainte-Claire.
First words
As the big liner hung over the tugs swarming about her in the Bay of Algiers, Martin Boyne looked down from the promenade deck on the troop of first-class passengers struggling up the gangway, their faces all unconsciously lifted to his inspection.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

On a cruise ship between Algiers and Venice, Martin Boyne, an unmarried engineer in his forties, encounters a wild, ebullient menagerie of stepbrothers and sisters, kept together as a 'family' by the efforts of the eldest, the lovely, fifteen-year-old Judith. Caught between genuine outrage at the plight of the precocious and fought-over children and his disturbing feelings for their fifteen-year-old sister-protector, Boyne finds himself increasingly drawn to their enchanting, improper and liberating ways. But awaiting Boyne in Switzerland is Rose Sellars: tactful, genteel, old New York incarnate, patiently anticipating marriage. Caught between old money and new, Martin Boyne is a tragic and poignant knight errant caught on the cusp of a changing world.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Martin Boyne is a 46-year-old civil engineer, a man whom adventure has consistently eluded. He takes a passage on a cruise ship, "a fortnight on the magic seas between Algiers and Venice", before joining Rose Sellars whom he expects to marry. Rose, a widow in her middle years, is a woman of supreme tact and graciousness. Martin's future life appears settled and calm. But on board he encounters lovely fifteen-year-old Judith Wheater, travelling unaccompanied with her circus of step-brothers and sisters while their parents are "jazzing" in Venice. Wild, enchanting, improper, they have a liberating - and increasingly unsettling - effect on the middle-aged man. First published in America in 1928, this late novel by Edith Wharton has never before been published in Britain. Set in Europe of the Jazz Age, satiric in mood, this portrayal of the vapid, flashy, and disintregating society of the time, and the helplessness of the individual within it, is an interesting and unusual addition to the richly varied oeuvre of this great American writer.
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.68)
0.5
1 2
1.5
2 2
2.5 3
3 17
3.5 7
4 23
4.5 2
5 12

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,239,827 books! | Top bar: Always visible