Kate Chopin’s riveting, daring tale of 1 woman’s search for personal freedom was so far ahead of its period that its publication aroused a storm of controversy violent enough to get rid of its author’s profession.

With an effortless, sure-handed artistry, Chopin tells the story of Edna Pontellier, a mom and model wife, whose romantic involvement with a man throughout a vacation at a seaside resort allows her for the first time to imagine a new, freer life. Upon her return to New Orleans, Edna leaves her husband’s home for her very own cottage and starts an affair, only to find that the constraints of cultural custom could be stronger than she thought. Contemporary readers and reviewers were shocked from the frank, unapologetic treatment of adultery in The Awakening. The actual fact that we possess the book whatsoever may be the most convincing tribute to its long lasting, irrepressible power.