Roman Fever

EDITH WHARTON'S ROMAN FEVER Roman Fever by Edith Wharton is a story about two well-to-do American widows who escort their unmarried daughters on a grand vacation. Alida Slade and Grace Ansley are the primary characters in Wharton's tale that incorporates love, mother/daughter relationships and sexuality into a compelling piece of literary work. The story's beginning finds the older women partaking of the glorious view of the Forum from their restaurant seats. The younger ladies, …

…red, as the author successfully envelops her readers with the utmost insight and character recognition. This development lends itself directly to the fact that the story's personalities are quite believable in their context. It is with great appeal that Wharton's characters reach out to the reader in a triumphant attempt to overstep the boundaries between reality and imagination. This achievement is not easily accomplished in a work so short, but Wharton effectively meets the challenge.