An exciting repackage of Kate Chopin’s classic novel as part of the Modern Library’s Torchbearer series, featuring a new introduction written by National Book Award finalist, Carmen Maria Machado.

The Awakening shocked turn-of-the-century readers and reviewers with its treatment of sex and suicide. In a departure from literary convention, Kate Chopin failed to condemn her heroine’s desire for an affair with the son of a Louisiana resort owner, whom she meets on vacation. The power of sensuality, the delusion of ecstatic love, and the solitude that accompanies the trappings of middle- and upper-class convention are themes of this now-classic novel.