Author: Kate Chopin / Year: 1850-1954 / Genre:Historic Novel The story begins at Grand Isle, a ritzy vacation spot near New Orleans, where Edna Pontellier is summering with her husband and two children. Her husband Léonce is often away on business, so she spends most of her time with a beautiful, shallow friend named Adèle Ratignolle and a charming young man named Robert Lebrun. From the beginning, the reader perceives that all is not harmonious in the Pontellier family: Edna seems bored by her children and frustrated with Léonce, who is silly, ill-tempered, and inattentive (his lavish gifts notwithstanding). Her friendship with Robert, though, has been blossoming.
