In her own lifetime, Edith Wharton’s talents were often pigeonholed and downplayed as appealing to only a small audience of upper-crust society doyennes. Today, however, critics regard her as one of the most important writers of the early twentieth century, rivaling even luminaries such as Henry James in literary significance. In this novel, the author of such masterworks as The Age of Innocence takes aim at issues of religious dogmatism against the backdrop of 18th-century Italy.