Edith Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in literature. What's more, her wealthy New York family might have been responsible for the expression "keeping up with the Joneses".
This is the first short story she ever wrote and is about an elderly woman whose only connection to the outside world is the view from her tenement window. Although some of Wharton's usual melodrama is absent in this story, it's a poetic reflection on issues such as loneliness, ageing and the consolations of the natural world.
Afraid to give your learners hard texts? Don't be! There are annotations for tricky vocabulary, discussion prompts and a Quizlet set on key vocabulary. Watch the video below for an overview of the materials.
Download the PDF here and the ePub file here.