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What if your marriage comes with a promise to step aside when someone richer appears?
Susy and Nick Lansing have charm, rich friends, and almost no money. In Edith Wharton's The Glimpses of the Moon, they marry on a clever bargain: either may leave if a wealthier match offers a better life. For now, borrowed houses and generous hosts give them a honeymoon they cannot afford on their own.
But a villa in Italy cannot answer the question waiting beyond the honeymoon: how will they live? As real feeling meets temptation, comfort begins to carry a price. Wharton follows Susy and Nick through a world of invitations, favors, and obligations, where private choices bend under the pressure of money and a practical promise puts love at risk.
What you’ll discover
- A bargain under pressure Watch a seemingly sensible agreement become harder to keep as affection deepens.
- Beauty on borrowed terms Enter Italian gardens and grand houses where every welcome depends on someone else's generosity.
- Two divided hearts Follow charming Susy and thoughtful Nick as their need for comfort tests their marriage.
- The cost of favors See how wealthy friends offer help that brings obligations along with its pleasures.
- Irony with a half smile Enjoy Wharton's clear view of human faults without losing sight of the feelings beneath.
Who will love it
This book is for readers who love witty novels about marriage, money and manners, with glittering settings from Venice to Paris and a clever, flawed pair at the center.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Their marriage comes with an exit
- A practical proposal becomes a promise
- The cigars reveal different moral rules
- A borrowed palace demands her silence
- The hidden payment breaks their trust
- Separation brings new offers and suspicions
- Useful work changes what Susy values
- Pride keeps love from speaking plainly
- Comfort always carries a hidden bill
Who’s who
- Susy LansingA witty, penniless young woman who has lived on rich friends for years and wants a marriage that is honest, even if it is only for a year.
- Nick LansingA poet and writer on Oriental art who has no money and a short list of things he will never do for anyone.
- StreffordCharlie Strefford, called Streffy, an untidy and amusing Englishman who lends villas, keeps secrets and soon comes into a title and fortune.
- Ellie VanderlynA pretty, careless wife who hands out gifts and favors freely and expects her friends to protect her love affairs.
- Clarissa VanderlynEllie's eight year old daughter, small, shrewd and lonely, who attaches herself to Susy and sees more than the adults think.
- Coral HicksA plain, blunt and ambitious American heiress who loves facts and archaeology and wants to rise as high as her father once climbed.
- Grace FulmerA cheerful violinist, mother of five, who stood by her painter husband through years of poverty and now meets his sudden fame.
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The Glimpses of the Moon
by Edith Wharton · 1922
Susy and Nick marry on a bargain to part when a better chance comes, and live on borrowed palaces.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“No article on Mrs. Wharton would be complete unless mention was made of her passion for gardening and her art in developing beautiful gardens, both at her home in Hyères and at St. Brice, near Paris.”
In short
What happens when two clever people marry on a bargain? Susy Branch and Nick Lansing have no money, but they know every rich household in Europe.
The Glimpses of the Moon at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 30 min4 h 25 min fast, 6 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 79,000 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1922by Edith Wharton
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A honeymoon on borrowed time begins at Como
The book opens on a moonlit terrace above Lake Como. Susy and Nick lean on a marble balustrade, newly married. The villa belongs to their friend Streffy, who has lent it for a month. Everything in the scene is lent, and both of them know it.
They count their good luck the way other couples count presents. They had five houses to choose from, and Susy says they might stretch the honeymoon to a whole year. She has spent nearly twenty years living off rich friends, so she knows how far a wedding check can go.
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Details
- First published
- 1922
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Wharton, Edith. The Glimpses of the Moon. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-glimpses-of-the-moon.
Wharton, E. (2026). The glimpses of the moon. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-glimpses-of-the-moon (Original work published 1922)
Wharton, Edith. The Glimpses of the Moon. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-glimpses-of-the-moon.
@book{wharton2026glimpses,
author = {Wharton, Edith},
title = {The Glimpses of the Moon},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-glimpses-of-the-moon},
note = {First published 1922}
}
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What is The Glimpses of the Moon about?
It follows Susy and Nick Lansing, two penniless friends who marry on a bargain to live on borrowed houses and part when a better chance comes. The story tests whether that arrangement can survive real feeling and real compromises.
When was The Glimpses of the Moon written?
Edith Wharton published it in 1922. It is a work of fiction, but it draws on the wealthy, restless society she knew in New York, Paris and the Mediterranean after the First World War.
What does the title mean?
The title is a phrase from Shakespeare's Hamlet about the moon lighting the night. In the book the moon stands for the Lansings' brief, borrowed happiness, which first rises over Lake Como and keeps returning in their memories.
The author
Edith Wharton
1862–1937 · American novelist
Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was an American writer and designer born in New York City. She later lived in France, where she died. Her books include The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), and The Age of Innocence (1920). She co-wrote The Decoration of Houses with Ogden Codman Jr. in 1897.
“Because you look so awfully happy”
More by Edith Wharton
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