Summer by Edith Wharton

Some people suffer from a tendency to valorize the past, especially the idea of tight-knit small communities, but not Edith. Read this and shudder to think of insular small town existence! Charity Royall is thwarted by the circumstances of her life—rescued from dire mountain poverty to be the ward of a dimly lecherous small-town lawyer—and Wharton ruthlessly depicts the failures of her mulish temperament and broken-winged struggle for freedom. A smiling, unsettling lady abortionist makes an appearance; it’s a doozy.