The Glimpses of the Moon
Edith Wharton, 1922
200-300 pp. (varies by publisher)
Summary
Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young, attractive, but impoverished New Yorkers. They are in love and decide to marry, but realize their chances of happiness are slim without the wealth and society that their more privileged friends take for granted.
The two agree to separate when either encounters a more eligible proposition. However, as they honeymoon in friends' lavish houses, from a villa on Lake Como to a Venetian palace, jealous passions and troubled consciences cause the idyll to crumble.
Edith Wharton has perceptively described the choices faced by Nick and Susy; the same dilemma still facing those seduced by the pleasures of society. (From the publisher.)