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The Touchstone

The Touchstone was Edith Wharton's first published novella, and it's spare, perhaps even underwritten. Even so, this Faustian tale of a man who stoops to publish love letters for money has mesmerizing, even dangerous qualities -- it has betrayals, greed, and... Read Full Overview

Stephen Glennard's career is falling apart and he desperately needs money so that he may marry his beautiful fiancee. He happens upon an advertisement in a London magazine promising the prospect of financial gain. Glennard was once pursued by Margaret Aubyn, a famous and recently... Read Full Overview

Stephen Glennard betrays a former love, selling her letters to him so that he may raise the money to marry his beautiful fiancee.Plot summary: Stephen Glennard's career is falling apart and he desperately needs money so that he may marry his beautiful fiancee. He happens upon... Read Full Overview

The Touchstone was Edith Wharton's first published novella, and it's spare, perhaps even underwritten. Even so, this Faustian tale of a man who stoops to publish love letters for money has mesmerizing, even dangerous qualities - it has betrayals, greed, and consequences faced:... Read Full Overview

"The Touchstone is a novel, written by Edith Wharton in 1905; it was the first of her many stories describing life in old New York.Stephen Glennard, the novel's protagonist, is suddenly impoverished and unable to marry the woman he loves. He sells the private letters a former... Read Full Overview