Bunner Sisters
by Edith Wharton (1862–1937)
- Free to read
- 2 hours to read
- 13 chapters
- Reading level: 7th grade
"Bunner Sisters" by Edith Wharton is a novel written during the early 20th century. The story centers on the lives of two sisters, Ann Eliza and Evelina Bunner, who run a small, humble shop in New York City. Despite the modesty of their reality, the sisters cling to dreams and desires that often remain unfulfilled as they navigate their love lives, ambitions, and the societal expectations of their time. The opening of the novel introduces readers to the Bunner Sisters and their quaint yet deteriorating neighborhood in New York. As the sisters prepare for Evelina's birthday celebration, the mundane aspects of their lives come to light, revealing their limited financial means and their contentment with their simple existence. Ann Eliza's poignant interactions with Evelina reflect the tension between their reliance on one another and their individual longings. The narrative suggests a transformative presence in the form of Mr. Herman Ramy, whose connection with the sisters will likely complicate their lives further, hinting at themes of love, sacrifice, and the stark realities of their social status.
- New York (N.Y.) · Social life and customs · 19th century
Read the opening
Chapter I
In the days when New York's traffic moved at the pace of the drooping horse-car, when society applauded Christine Nilsson at the Academy of Music and basked in the sunsets of the Hudson River School on the walls of the National Academy of Design, an inconspicuous shop with a single show-window was intimately and favourably known to the feminine population of the quarter bordering on Stuyvesant Square.
It was a very small shop, in a shabby basement, in a side-street already doomed to decline; and from the miscellaneous display behind the window-pane, and the brevity of the sign surmounting it (merely “Bunner Sisters” in blotchy gold on a black ground) it would have been difficult for the uninitiated to guess the precise nature of the business carried on within. But that was of little consequence, since its fame was so purely local that the customers on whom its existence depended were almost congenitally aware of the exact range of “goods” to be found at Bunner Sisters'.
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About this edition
This free edition of Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #311, released 2008-07-02. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, American Literature.
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