The Awakening

This is the tale of Edna Pontellier, a young wife of a Creole husband in 1890's New Orleans.  One summer she spends her time with her children in Grand Isle, a seaside town on the Gulf of Mexico.  There she meets and attracts the attention of one Robert Lebrun, a French Creole whose attentions have never before been taken seriously.  Beyond their time together at the beach, she loves him and he her.  It is not their story of love, but rather that of a woman discovering she can be more than just a wife and mother.  Written during a period before the feminist movement, Edna's feelings toward men were considered scandalous at the time, but still ring true today.   A must-read for all people, men and women alike. 

"Ah! si tu savais
Ce que tes yeux me disent"

(French, "Ah! if you knew what your eyes say to me")