Kate Chopin’s startling portrayal of Edna Pontellier, a young, upper-class woman who rejects her duties as a wife and mother, shocked readers upon its release in 1899. In lyrical and impressionistic prose, Chopin conveys "a part of female experience that had never before been acknowledged” (Barbara Kingsolver)—the inner turmoil of a young woman unable to find a way of living in the world that accommodates the person she has discovered herself to be. Its unflinching truth continues to resonate with readers even now, cementing The Awakening as Chopin’s most famous and influential work.