Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady

By Louis Bromfield

Book Overview

"Early Autumn" is a poignant exploration of the decaying grandeur of a New England dynasty and the stifling weight of ancestral legacy. Set in the fictional town of Durham, Massachusetts, the novel focuses on the Pentland family, a lineage bound by rigid tradition and an obsession with their historical prestige. At the center of the narrative is Olivia Pentland, a woman who married into this aristocratic world only to find herself suffocated by its cold expectations and the preservation of family honor at all costs.

As the vibrant energy of the modern world begins to clash with the stagnant values of the old guard, Olivia must navigate a path between her sense of duty and a yearning for personal liberation. Louis Bromfield masterfully depicts the psychological toll of social entrapment and the inevitable fading of a once-powerful class. Winner of the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, "Early Autumn" remains a compelling study of character and a vivid portrait of a society in transition. This work stands as a cornerstone of American literary realism, capturing the enduring tension between the security of the past and the uncertain freedom of the future.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1025620054
• ISBN13: 9781025620053
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Tradd Street Press
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

love lost

This is an engrossing story of family life and values in the early part of the 20th century. Interwoven tales of found love and lost love runs throughout the novel. The heroine finds herself unwittingly in charge of the extended family that puts itself above all other families in the area. She has to deal with a dying child, a loveless marriage, and the weight of family ancestors. She falls in love with the new owner of the neighboring estate. She draws the parallel between her love for this new man and the love her father-in-law has for a woman he has loved and kept close for most of his married life to an invalid wife. Suspense builds as we wonder what decisions she will make and what will become of 'the family'.

Could Have Been Edith Wharton

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I kept shutting it to look back at the cover to make sure that it hadn't been written by Edith Wharton. It certainly seems to be a very close cousin to The Age of Innoncence. In fact, I was not at all suprised when I came across this (to me, amusing) passage: "Her mother, she saw now, belonged to the America of the nineties. She saw her now less as a real person than a character out of a novel by Mrs. Wharton." Putting the topic of mimicry aside, however, this was an incredibly engaging book with an incredibly strong main character in Olivia Pentland. In fact, of the books I have read, I would put her on par with Clarissa Vaughan (from "The Hours") and Susan Ward (from "Angle of Repose") as incredibly strong, likeable, principled women for whom you feel an attraction to know. The story explores societal challenges (and by that I truly mean challenges from the society with which they are surrounded) to an upper class Massachusetts family. In that battle, the book is also about the desire and plight of those that seem to have a more pragmatic approach to life trying to escape the suffocating grasp of the family. The Pentland family doesn't come off as altogether bad- in fact, in some ways you fell sorry for them. However, it does paint the family as one that is increasingly out of touch with any sense of reality. This is a very quick and easy read that its difficult to imagine not enjoying.

A Family Skeleton

This 1927 Pulitzer Prize winner is a richly crafted character study of an old New England family at the end of its influence and name-carrying tradition. Olivia Pentland is trapped in a loveless marriage to Anson Pentland, the self-absorbed authority on Pentland family history. Languishing in the home is frail Jack Pentland, the fifteen year-old heir to the family name and fortune. Isolated in a far wing upstairs is "her" the nameless and addled wife of old John Pentland, the reigning monarch of the family. She alone is privey to a family secret which if known would uproot the Pentland family tree. Other characters are interwoven into this tale of anguish and of loves both lost and found. A real treat for the serious reader of American literature.