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The Innocents

by Francesca Segal (Goodreads Author)

3.15 of 5 stars 3.15 · rating details · 2,263 ratings · 485 reviews

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2012

What if everything you'd ever wanted was no longer enough?

Adam and Rachel are getting married at last. Childhood sweethearts whose lives and families have been intertwined for years; theirs is set to be the wedding of the year.

But then Rachel's cousin Ellie makes an unexpected return to the family fold. Beautiful, reckless and trou...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published June 5th 2012 by Voice (first published January 1st 2012)

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May 11, 2012 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fiction, europe-and-british-isles, domestic-and-relationship-fiction

Don't be put off by my three-star rating. The writing is superb. Quite stunning, really, for a first novel. It's just one of those stories in which very little occurs, aside from the dailiness of life in a wealthy, tightly-knit community. This novel is modeled after Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, which is also a well-written book in which nothing much happens.

The most appealing thing for me about the story is its Jewishness. For a non-Jew like me, there was a lot to discover.

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Jun 12, 2012 switterbug (Betsey) rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an enjoyable and relatively conventional suburban drama of a close-knit Jewish community in NW London. Likewise, I applaud this debut author's unspoken but sublime irony and chutzpah in her choice to revitalize but change the original version of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, a novel written by the celebrated, anti-Semitic author, Edith Wharton, that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921! (Wharton, Scott Fitzgerald, and Henry James were all privileged people of their times) Segal gets the last laugh by...more This is an enjoyable and relatively conventional suburban drama of a close-knit Jewish community in NW London. Likewise, I applaud this debut author's unspoken but sublime irony and chutzpah in her choice to revitalize but change the original version of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, a novel written by the celebrated, anti-Semitic author, Edith Wharton, that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921! (Wharton, Scott Fitzgerald, and Henry James were all privileged people of their times) Segal gets the last laugh by writing this tidy, classy novel about manners and family, and security versus passionate spontaneity. THE INNOCENTS takes place in contemporary times.

Twenty-eight-year-olds Adam Newman (cf. Newman Archer in AOI) and Rachel Gilbert (May Welland) have been together for a dozen years, engaged to be married, and comfortable and secure in their tight knot of overlapping and extended family and friends. Rachel has never been with any other man but Adam, and Adam’s experience is limited (by today’s standards). He is smug in his knowledge of Adam and Rachel, Rachel and Adam. Although his father died when he was very young, leaving an unresolved grief in his heart, Rachel’s father, Lawrence, has embraced him like a son, even hired him to work as an attorney in his firm. They are as close as in-laws could be. The marriage in a year will seal the deal, and bring the families even closer.

“There was no life event—marriage, birth, parenthood, or loss—through which one need ever walk alone. Twenty-five people were always poised to help. The other side of interference was support.”

In walks the prodigal cousin, returned from New York, Ellie Schneider (Ellen Olenska in AOI), a twenty-two-year old statuesque, bottle-blonde beauty. She was kicked out of the MFA creative writing program at Columbia for making a skin flick that surfaced, and is mantled with controversy for her ongoing affair with a famous married art dealer in NY, a scandal that is about to hit the media, and started when she was only sixteen. She dresses provocatively, which doesn’t go down well with the relatives at synagogue, especially on a High Holy holiday such as Yom Kippur, where this novel opens.

Adam is transfixed and ignited by the sight of her even as he is repelled and intimidated by her cavalier independence from the strictures and reproaches of their insular community. He cannily aspires to accidentally on purpose run into Ellie, bringing himself closer and closer into dangerous territory, like in AGE OF INNOCENCE. They develop a muted, cryptic, but inwardly tender kinship, circling around each other, chastely, also similar in spirit to Wharton’s book. Meanwhile, Rachel’s wedding plans are irritating him, because he wants to be married “quickly” and without fanfare, to be wed and put stray longings to rest.

Segal paints a vivid portrait of this clannish society’s mores, although most of the secondary characters are set pieces to further the story. There’s Ziva, the 88-year-old grandmother, (Rachel’s), an erudite immigrant who survived the Holocaust; Adam’s mother, still a grieving widow after all these years, and other people that serve as color and background or to advance the plot.

The middle section moves gradually, perhaps stiffly at times, and includes a few hard-to-swallow events. For example, Lawrence put Adam on as Ellie's private attorney, to help clean up her scandals, if possible, and do damage control to her public persona. No matter how much Lawrence trusts Adam, I can't imagine any man placing his almost son-in-law in the position of private confidante to the provocative Ellie. Lawrence is quite socially conservative and protective of his own family. Even if he can trust Adam, why throw him to the lions? There's support and then there's just not thinking. In the author's defense, Archer helped Ellie in AOI, but, here, it feels inorganic.

You don’t have to be Jewish to like this theme-driven novel. The characters, actually, are universal, as are the conflicts that this book explores, mainly certainty in traditional values versus uncertainty in following your passion, the fallout of lingering grief, and the impact that your decisions have on others. Segal also included a subplot that reflects the economic casualties of our times, but if felt a bit forced, a plot-driven convenience.

This is a solid, four-star first novel, and it doesn’t distract by being an updated version of a classic. Rather, the presence of the older novel serves to illuminate that some things, at its heart, haven’t changed, even if the décor is renovated and a century has passed. Segal has admirable control of her narrative, and her prose is clean and smooth. I look forward to her next novel.

Thank you to Shelf Awareness for this copy from the publisher.(less)

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Mar 25, 2013 marg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Retellings are a complicated genre for me. On the one hand, they strike me as lazy and glorified plagiarism, and I therefore feel the stakes are that much higher. Can this book stand on its own? Should it be able to? Is it offering new insight to the previous work? Does the story suffer for having to meet a contrived criteria rather than grow organically?
I have had some bad experiences in the world of retellings - Edgar Sawtelle, for one, where it seemed to just be "ha ha, look, the uncle's name...more Retellings are a complicated genre for me. On the one hand, they strike me as lazy and glorified plagiarism, and I therefore feel the stakes are that much higher. Can this book stand on its own? Should it be able to? Is it offering new insight to the previous work? Does the story suffer for having to meet a contrived criteria rather than grow organically?
I have had some bad experiences in the world of retellings - Edgar Sawtelle, for one, where it seemed to just be "ha ha, look, the uncle's name is Claude, like Claudius!" and then both as a retelling and as its own story the book was pretty much a fail. Same with On Beauty (oh, ha ha, here they left a cell phone in the theatre instead of Forster's umbrella - what a kick!) and countless others.
But then there is Bridget Jones and its clever commentary on how the more things change (women's lib) the more they stay the same (Pride and Prejudice). And a lot of Simpsons and Seinfeld episodes where the retellings were witty satires. And so I guess retellings have their place when they are charming, clever, and or offer new insights by juxtaposing two seemingly opposing things.
So then there is The Innocents. This book takes The Age of Innocence and, with some minimal but rather major plot changes, super imposes it onto a quasi Orthodox community in London. The same questions went through my mind - is the story its own story, or is it merely a mock up? In its mock upness, is it telling something new? Are the characters only seeming dull because I know who they are based on, or is the story doomed from the start because this character needs to be this way, and that character etc?
In this version, Adam Newman (Newland Archer) is engaged to the perfect (but actually rather silly and sort of frumpy) Rachel (May) amid the tightly knit community where everyone knows everyone and there are lots of rules. Enter Ellie (Ellen Olenska) who is the scandalous cousin and, well, you know.
So the thing is this. The book is smartly written (perhaps too much so - see Partial History of Lost Causes, except that was far superior despite its overwrittenness) but I often felt like I was distracted by the efforts at matching its original, rather than marveling at how it develops/contributes. In addition, the community did not ring true to me - as an "insider," there were a lot of inconsistencies - I found it odd that a community maintaining many Ortho traditions would not raise an eyebrow at a twelve year courtship let alone a lot of the general activities - but perhaps these societies do exist - still, it didn't ring as true or as potently as Wharton's Old New York - but then, is that fair? Or is that in fact very fair because with a retelling comes that responsibility?
The tricky thing is whether or not I even enjoyed this book. Sometimes it was cute - Adam sending an itune song to his faincee every day as opposed to May's roses - and the tension with Ellie was, mostly, well played. But I read this and kept wondering what the point was (something I didn't do with the original) and I think, in retellings, there needs to be a bigger picture, because just creating a knock off, to me, seems a rather unjustifiable pursuit.
In itself, this is a three star read - the writing is good, if at times boring or convoluted, and the story is well paced, if at times contrived. I always get a kick out of seeing Orthodox Jews in fiction, though this felt heavily fictitious. But it is hard for me to say what Segal's goals were in writing this, and whether or not they were achieved.(less)

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Mar 24, 2013 Elaine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

This was a 2.5, but I'm giving it a first novelist .5 bump up. This had the same affect as Song of Achilles -- it just made me want to re-read the source material, Edith Wharton's brilliant Age of Innocence. The central problem with The Innocents is, in fact, its source material -- the entire book feels like a mental exercise -- "how can we re-create the rigid hierarchies and complex social codes of 1870s upper-crust New York in the modern world?" It's a difficult problem, since we live in a mob...more This was a 2.5, but I'm giving it a first novelist .5 bump up. This had the same affect as Song of Achilles -- it just made me want to re-read the source material, Edith Wharton's brilliant Age of Innocence. The central problem with The Innocents is, in fact, its source material -- the entire book feels like a mental exercise -- "how can we re-create the rigid hierarchies and complex social codes of 1870s upper-crust New York in the modern world?" It's a difficult problem, since we live in a mobile, permissive and fragmented world, and Segal solves it by choosing a fairly hermetic niche with, she tells us, very strict codes of its own: London's upper-middle class, tradition bound (but not Orthodox) Jews.

But the problem is that (as Segal acknowledges) the hermetic world she builds for her characters is highly artificial and fairly illusory. I have no firsthand knowledge of the London Jewish community in particular, but it is hard for communities where everyone works and is educated in the "outside" world to stay sealed off, especially since these are not true "frummers" with any particularly rigid religious code (Age of Innocence would make sense set among Hasdiim). Therefore, Segal's main characters' resolute blindness to the outside world manifests itself as willful lack of curiousity, and frankly, dullness. Instead of May Welland, the perfect bride who makes brilliant use of the limited tools at her disposal - given her gender and social position - and ends up calling the shots, we have Rachel, a babyish brat who at 30 is called Pumpkin by her boyfriend, never has a thought that's recorded on the page, and grates for most of the novel's 300 odd pages. A similar flattening takes place with Ellie, the re-incarnation of Wharton's Countess Olenska. Ellie is a model with a taste for drugs and promsicuous past. But she never shows any of the spark, the exterior intelligence, that makes Olenska compelling, and where Olenska's sexuality is truly interesting in the world Wharton depicts, where an unmarried woman is literally virginal and a betrothed couple shows their passion in a fleeting kiss on the lips, in today's world, where even adorable Pumpkin Rachel doles out blow jobs, Ellie is reduced to exhibiting her sexuality through wearing scraps of clothing and appearing nude in all kinds of posters and movies. The central passion between Ellie and Adam remains entirely enigmatic -- neither one of them seems particularly compelling, or worth upsetting many familial apple carts for.

In short, it all becomes very stilted and dull, and somewhat irritating. Perhaps the most important aspect of Wharton's novel -- that it is written 50 years after the era she depicts (sort of a 1920s' version of Mad Men in that respect) -- is completely left out here. This means that the brilliant coda - where Archer chooses to hold tight to the fantasy that has nurtured him rather than risk either the rewards or the disappointment of reality is absent. Also absent is the distance that Wharton's anthropological lens brings -- she's dissecting a bygone world and interrogating what "innocence" meant from the perspective of an age that is anything but. Segal's story is much more straighforward- what you see is what you get.

So why did I give it 3 stars then? Because Segal writes well, and it's well realized on its own artificial terms. But it was probably closer to 2, at the end of the day.(less)

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May 02, 2013 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have to say that this book is very well written and you easily become absorbed in the story and the characters. People say that Francesca Segal copied the storyline from the Age of Innocence, but in my opinion there's nothing wrong with writing a modern re-write of an old classic and I think it was applied very well to the context of the Jewish community. My father was Jewish but I wasn't brought up in the Jewish faith, so I was really interested in reading this book in order to explore and be...more I have to say that this book is very well written and you easily become absorbed in the story and the characters. People say that Francesca Segal copied the storyline from the Age of Innocence, but in my opinion there's nothing wrong with writing a modern re-write of an old classic and I think it was applied very well to the context of the Jewish community. My father was Jewish but I wasn't brought up in the Jewish faith, so I was really interested in reading this book in order to explore and become more involved in my Jewish heritage. This novel is about a Jewish boy, Adam who has been with his fiancee Rachel for 12 long years; their relationship may not be exciting, but it offers security and their families and community strongly support their relationship. However Adam's world changes when Ellie, Rachel's beautiful and troubled extranged cousin comes on the scene.

I have to say that this was a very interesting and intruiging read and towards the middle was when things really heated up and I found myself hooked. I thought that there was really good character development. I had ambivalent feelings towards the characters; on one hand I felt for Adam, being stuck and pressured into a relationship very much past its sell by date, but on the other hand I wished that he could man-up and that Rachel deserved better than him. Although Rachel comes across as an annoying, whiny and naive daddy's little princess, I felt for her as she was unaware of her fiance/husband having feelings for her cousin and not loving her the way that he should.

This book really gives you a lot to think about and has a lot of important themes. I was a bit disappointed with the ending. I loved the passion between Adam and Ellie and I desperately wanted for them to be together and I was irritated that Adam stayed with Rachel when it was clear he wasn't in love with her. I understood that Adam would have to sacrafice many things to leave Rachel; losing Rachel's father Lawrence, who Adam sees as a role-model and a father figure, losing the respect of the community and breaking Rachel's heart.

All in all this was a very good book, well-written and witty. I loved the other characters too especially Ziva, Rachel's lively and outgoing grandmother. Ziva really brightens things up, especially when the tone of the novel becomes gloomy. This was really well written and I couldn't stop thinking about this book!(less)

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May 02, 2013 Liz Rosenberg rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an exquisitely written novel, and I read it in about two days. The book is seamless. And the author is gifted.

My only question is, why write the book? It is not merely based on Wharton's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, I'd go so far as to say it's a modern day version of THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. And I'm shocked by one reader who claimed it was "better than the original." For one thing, the Wharton novel is brilliant. For another, it was ahead of its time, it was a beautiful invention-- and it seems t...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Khaya rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: jewish

I never read The Age of Innocence, so I can't judge this as a retelling. But as a stand-alone book, it really didn't work for me.

The basic story is that Adam, who has dated Rachel for 12 years and is finally engaged to her, suddenly falls passionately in love with Rachel's cousin Ellie, your classic angsty manic pixie dream girl, gorgeous and troubled and dysfunctional and also brilliant and deep of course, lest you think this is just about lust or anything. The subtext, if you can call it that...more I never read The Age of Innocence, so I can't judge this as a retelling. But as a stand-alone book, it really didn't work for me.

The basic story is that Adam, who has dated Rachel for 12 years and is finally engaged to her, suddenly falls passionately in love with Rachel's cousin Ellie, your classic angsty manic pixie dream girl, gorgeous and troubled and dysfunctional and also brilliant and deep of course, lest you think this is just about lust or anything. The subtext, if you can call it that when the theme is hammered repeatedly at you, is that Rachel is safe and represents community, conformity, and predictability while Adam is discovering that -- surprise! -- he may find spontaneity/impetuousness more appealing.

It's an interesting premise and theme, one which must have worked well in the hands of an author like Edith Wharton. Alas, Francesca, you are no Edith Wharton. I already alluded to the lack of subtlety -- how many ways and times can you tell me that adhering to a rigid set of social norms presents a dilemma of feeling safe vs. feeling confined? God bless Stephen King, who in his infinite wisdom reminded authors not to get hung up on developing themes; just to tell the story and let the themes develop organically. Clearly advice ignored by Francesca.

Not to mention that while setting the story in a Jewish community with rigid norms was a pretty good idea, given the anachronistic nature of conventionality's stronghold in the story, the community being described was like none I've ever seen. Maybe it's because I've never been to London and maybe things are different there, but I think characterizing a Jewish community with a powerful tradition-driven social structure should go beyond a few superficial rituals, an anti-intermarriage stance, and overuse of the word "meshuga" (surely additional Yiddish words might have made it into these people's lexicon, no?). It would be interesting to write this story as taking place in a strictly Orthodox community where the demand to conform is so deeply ingrained as a divine mandate, but here the hodgepodge of ignorance and apathy and laxity when it came to Judaism coupled with intense social pressure to do the Jewish thing when the Judaism seemed so superficial and intellectually dishonest was a hard sell for me. (If readers want to comment and tell me that no, I don't know what I'm talking about and their Jewish community was exactly like this, that's fine. But as an author, Francesca should have made this more convincing. I simply couldn't see it.)

Not to mention stilted dialogue ("So -- we're going to be cousins now." Does any engaged person actually open a conversation with a new relative that way?) and blah characters. What the heck did Adam ever see in Rachel, anyway? What an incredibly superficial and boring twit. Did she seriously like being called Pumpkin? And while Ellie was clearly intended to be the appealing manic pixie dream girl who's also deep and a closet intellectual, her characterization really didn't work for me. Even the grandmother, clearly meant to be cool and hip as only old people in books can be, set my teeth on edge.

Well, as you can see, I really wasn't a fan. One star would probably be a more accurate rating, but I'm not sure I hated it quite enough for that. It was a quick, mildly entertaining read which didn't demand too much from me. And it inspired me to seek out the original, so I'll grudgingly grant it the extra star.(less)

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Mar 05, 2013 Meera rated it 3 of 5 stars

There's been a lot of hype about this book, and its not quite as clever as it thinks it is. Basically its Wharton's Age of Innocence (which I've now got to read, as I imagine its better!) transposed to modern day London and an elite Jewish enclave who live in Hampstead Garden Suburb. It is really well written, and I was intrigued about the way that the Jewish community live their lives in such an insular fashion (if what the author says is true) - I had to laugh when the protagonist Adam feels h...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Ruth Jalfon rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel is modeled after Edith Wharton's 'The Age of Innocence' and is set in modern day north-west London in the Jewish community. For me, this is comfortably familiar since I spent the first two decades of my life in this area. It is a first novel and this is not the first time I have read a first novel written by a Jewess about the Jewish community in NW London which has won a prestigious prize. The previous one was Naomi Alderman's 'Disobedience' (won the Orange Prize for new fiction) ab...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Jenni Buchanan rated it 3 of 5 stars

From the very first page to the final chapter of the book, the reader knows that Francesca Segal’s The Innocents is a deft modern retelling of Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence. Adam Newman and Newland Archer are two peas in a pod: both trapped within the social constraints of their communities; blindly at first, then angrily and resentfully later in the story. Both are engaged to sweet, innocent, and somewhat bland women; and both have their eyes opened to the harsh, messy, beautiful and electri...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Age of Innocence transferred to an upper-middle class Jewish area of modern day north London. It's very well-written, and since I read it I've found myself thinking about it a lot. When I started it I was frustrated by the portrayals of both Rachel, the main character Adam's conventional fiancee, and Ellie, Rachel's libertine American cousin, to whom Adam finds himself attracted (she is, after all, a model, not to mention the scar of a scandalous art-house flick). I was bored by the idea of...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Elisha Singer rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really had issues with this book. I can't count the number of times where I wanted to physically shake one character or another. I think that is the crux of my problem with this novel: I had a difficult time liking the main characters. Adam, our "hero" (and I use the term loosely) is a putz. I wanted to smack some sense into him and force him to make a decision. There were so many times I wanted to stop reading because I genuinely didn't like him. His fiancée also got on my nerves. I wanted he...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Bess rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, but there wasn't anything "ah ha" about it to warrant 4 stars. But, I'd probably recommend it if you wanted a quick easy read with a mildly interesting story to keep you engaged. It is told from a young man's perspective who is coming of age & getting married in modern time. The setting is a jewish circle of family/friends in london & not knowing much about either I stayed with the book. Many of the issues in the book are faced by families everywhere and are not uniq...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Pamela rated it 4 of 5 stars

This story is a modern take on Edith Wharton’s “Age of Innocence”. I heard the author speak on 10/29/12. She is 33 years old, the daughter of Erich Segal of “Love Story” fame. The story is a good read, very well written, excellent character development. It is the story of a young man, Adam Newman who has grown up in a very insular Jewish suburb in NorthWest London. He is getting ready to marry his sweetheart Rachel Schneider, who he has dated for 13 years. She appears to be the ideal wife, and e...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Bobbie Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved it.

"It is impossible to resist this novel's wit, grace, and charm."
—Lauren Groff, author of The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia

A smart and slyly funny tale of love, temptation, confusion, and commitment; a triumphant and beautifully executed recasting of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

Newly engaged and unthinkingly self-satisfied, twenty-eight-year-old Adam Newman is the prize catch of Temple Fortune, a small, tight-knit Jewish suburb of London. He has been dating Rachel Gilbert s...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Rabbi Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Edith Warthon Age of Innocence located in North London Jewish community. It takes certainly hutzpah to turn the work of an Anti-semite writer into a Jewish novel. Segal managed to do it, and the result is a good read. But the pattern is probably too evident.
The literary play is sophisticated and definitively enjoyable. My favourite: in this British Jewish family, there is an Israeli elderly lady, so much "in-your-face" kind of person, and definitively not-British (English is not her native tong...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Mary Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Probably I would have enjoyed this book a bit more if so many reviews hadn't compared it to "The Age of Innocence." Who could live up to that? Really? Sure, the parallels are there, but Wharton's book is a classic, and Segal's pretty forgettable.
The writing was flowing and the portrayal of Jewish life in London's upper crust neighborhoods was very interesting. It was the central characters that I roundly detested.
Adam Newman? A stupid young man who makes predictable choices when he thinks with...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars

When I started reading this book, right off the bat, I thought "this reminds me of 'The Age of Innocence'". And then I read a bit more and realized, this IS "The Age of Innocence" except the names, place and religion of the main characters is different! Instead of late 19th century New York, the story is set in 21st century London, in a close-knit Jewish community. It is almost like she had an Age of Innocence template, and inserted (date), (name), (place) and the computer spit out this book.

The...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Everyday eBook rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Everyday by: Naina Sharma

I am always wary of modern retellings of classics. They are labeled as such for a reason -- their themes are timeless, resonating across space and place. I was skeptical, then, picking up Francesca Segal's The Innocents, which bills itself as a retelling of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, set in a modern-day, conservative Jewish community in London. What I found was a book superficially like The Age of Innocence, in terms of plot, but with a host of warm, rich, and vibrant characters, and...more I am always wary of modern retellings of classics. They are labeled as such for a reason -- their themes are timeless, resonating across space and place. I was skeptical, then, picking up Francesca Segal's The Innocents, which bills itself as a retelling of Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, set in a modern-day, conservative Jewish community in London. What I found was a book superficially like The Age of Innocence, in terms of plot, but with a host of warm, rich, and vibrant characters, and a beautifully detailed writing style that was a pleasure to read, both as a debut novel and as a classic's retelling.

Segal's characters and plot follow Wharton's original quite faithfully, with the protagonist, Adam Newman, set to marry his innocent sweetheart Rachel Gilbert -- a good Jewish girl. Trouble arrives in the form of Rachel's scandalous cousin, Ellie Schneider, who arrives from New York and is decidedly not a good Jewish girl, having been kicked out of Columbia for a nude film and arriving to synagogue with nothing underneath her tuxedo jacket. If you've read The Age of Innocence, you'll recognize Newland Archer, May Welland, and Countess Ellen in this lineup. Also familiar is Rachel and Ellie's grandmother, Ziva, standing in for Mrs. Manson Mingott, the matriarch of the Welland clan in The Age of Innocence.

The plot continues to, on the surface, resemble Wharton's novel: Adam, initially happy about his engagement, begins to feel stifled under the conservative Jewish community until the introduction of worldly Ellie. The two fall in love but attempt to suppress their feelings. In the end, however, Adam must decide whether to stay with Rachel when she announces her pregnancy.

"Well, what's all that different, except for the societal setting?" you may be thinking. But, of course, society is not just a place in these novels -- it's a character. And place is where The Innocents comes entirely into its own. You see, this tight-knit Jewish community in London is similarly conservative to Wharton's New York society, and similarly insular. But the motivations behind Segal's community are much more poignant and relatable than those of Wharton's. Ziva is not an aristocratic matriarch -- she's a Holocaust survivor who flouts the rules because she sees their triviality. The Temple Fortune community is insular because of the horrors that are still fresh in their collective memory. They abhor change because they so treasure stability, newly found after centuries of upheaval.

The most marked difference between Wharton's society and Segal's is the true warmth in the characters, whose actions are ultimately motivated by love for each other, family, and their community. The love that infuses The Innocents humanizes Segal's characters and gives a new depth to an old classic, making for a striking novel that draws inspiration from The Age of Innocence, but becomes so much more.

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Jul 10, 2012 Larry Hoffer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Maybe it's just me, but have you ever been reading a book that, if you didn't have other obligations, you would finish in one day, or even one sitting? If I had had the chance, I would have devoured Francesca Segal's excellent The Innocents in one day. But having to slow down my pace allowed me to savor it a little more, which certainly wasn't a bad thing.

Inspired by Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, yet set in Temple Fortune, a close-knit Jewish suburb of northwest London, the book follows...more Maybe it's just me, but have you ever been reading a book that, if you didn't have other obligations, you would finish in one day, or even one sitting? If I had had the chance, I would have devoured Francesca Segal's excellent The Innocents in one day. But having to slow down my pace allowed me to savor it a little more, which certainly wasn't a bad thing.

Inspired by Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, yet set in Temple Fortune, a close-knit Jewish suburb of northwest London, the book follows Adam Newman, a successful and handsome 28-year-old who has recently gotten engaged to Rachel Gilbert, whom he has dated since the two were 16 and met on a tour of Israel. The two are celebrated for their engagement and have a relationship that is the envy of their community. Rachel's strong sense of right and wrong, her devotion to family and friends, and her relative innocence are some of the things that appeal most to Adam, and Rachel looks to Adam for the solid steadiness and protection she has always gotten from her parents. But when Rachel's younger cousin, Ellie, a troubled model and actress living in New York, comes to Temple Fortune, she brings chaos, drama, and a freeing excitement that Adam has never known. Should he risk all that he has built his life upon for a chance at a different kind of happiness he never expected, or should he stay the course that he has been destined to follow his entire life?

I thought Francesca Segal did a fantastic job with this book. The characters, while familiar in some ways, were unique, complex, and flawed, and you're truly not sure who to root for. She pays close attention to detail and has created a community and a circle of interconnected family and friends that you'd expect in a book twice this size. This book has humor, sadness, excitement, and hopefulness. I found myself hooked within the first few pages and wasn't able to let go until I finished reading. This was definitely a quick read, and a tremendously well-written one at that. (less)

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Jul 08, 2012 Lydia Presley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, contemporary, favorites, family, fiction

I've read so many good books in the last few weeks, and I like to think it's because I'm finally improving in my selections. The Innocents by Francesca Segal is another notch in that thought-process belt, because this is one story that packed a punch for me, subtle as it was.

I hadn't heard of this title until it cropped up on a list of modern day adaptations of novels that should be read. The cover of this one caught my eye, and although I haven't read Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, the i...more I've read so many good books in the last few weeks, and I like to think it's because I'm finally improving in my selections. The Innocents by Francesca Segal is another notch in that thought-process belt, because this is one story that packed a punch for me, subtle as it was.

I hadn't heard of this title until it cropped up on a list of modern day adaptations of novels that should be read. The cover of this one caught my eye, and although I haven't read Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, the idea of a modern-day story which calls to mind Jane Austen appealed to me. Then, of course, there's my own Jewish family routes, and my desire to read anything and everything I can about what my grandfather's life must have been like.

The story centers are Adam and Rachel and Ellie. Adam and Rachel have been a couple for 12 years and they have just become engaged (they started dating as young teenagers - so don't go tsking at Adam!). One week into their engagement, the wayward cousin Ellie shows up and... things get interesting. While certain things about The Innocents are highly predictable, what I found I appreciated most was the change in lens on how Adam viewed those around him. It was the gradual growth and decline of relationships that makes this book shine, and as much as I loved certain characters at the beginning I, like Adam, found myself disenchanted with them as the book drew to a close.

That, friends, takes skill. I've read quite a few books and I admit to being stubborn when it comes to taking sides when I find a character I like - and frankly, I didn't like Adam at all. So for me to be convinced to side with him against characters I thoroughly enjoyed ... well, color me impressed.

I don't recommend this book lightly, with all that said. You have to be prepared to settle down for a quiet, calm sort of story. There's no big drama, no cat fights, no worrying about what might be around the next page. Instead, this is a civilized look at life in the modern day, at community, at family relationships, and most of all it's a lesson that should be taken to heart by each and every one of us - a lesson which says simply to appreciate what you have, who you are surrounded by, and know that life is short - so make the most of it.(less)

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Jul 05, 2012 Roxanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had a hard time giving 3 stars to The Innocents.

Notes:

1. I have not read The Age of Innocence. Or, if I have, I do not remember it.
2. I wanted to stop about half way through the book, but I don't usually give up, so I plugged through till the end.

In my opinion, there is very little that actually occurs in this book. What does occur is so long and drawn out, that I lost interest.

There is a Jewish culture theme to this book. I could not relate or pronounce most words. I do think any person (Ad...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Andrea Borod rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fun-read

As we are exposed to both shocking and in-your-face sexual content in the news and elsewhere in the media, it's hard to recast the famously scandalous Countess Olenska on which Segal's Ellie is based: nothing about her seems all that terrifying except for the fact that, in this tiny world of suburban Jews in North London, she is exactly what scares them most: something different.

I think Segal did a fine job recreating a challenging and beloved text (albeit the weight of the scandal that Olenska...more

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May 13, 2012 E rated it 5 of 5 stars

In Francesca Segal's novel, The Innocents, Adam Newman is finally engaged to Rachel, his girlfriend of twelve years. They live in Temple Fortune which is a Jewish suburb in North West London. This is a place where everyone knows everyone. Even so, there are surprises and secrets. Adam's father died when Adam was young. His mother did not remarry. Rachel's parents enveloped him into their immediate and extended family. To them he is the perfect man for their beloved daughter. Adam adores Rachel-h...more

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May 06, 2012 Kristin rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review is from my blog - shelfishness.blog.com: Prior to reading Francesca Segal’s, my knowledge of Jewish culture was limited to Adam Sandler songs and Seinfeld reruns and my connection to Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence was linked to a college class. Segal, however, manages to make her modern version of this classic completely welcoming, just like the Jewish families she writes of, and provides an endearing education to the Jewish culture of North West London.

Adam Newman is a young s...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: advanced-reading-edition

I received this advanced reader copy free in the mail and after reading the overview on the back cover am not convinced I would have picked this book up on my own. Further convincing me of this would be how the story started. Although this book is about so much more, there is a strong emphasis on the Jewish culture throughout the book. I found myself skimming over the areas in the book with a lot of focused detail on this (mainly because I can not relate or pronounce!) Overall I found the book e...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Ben Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought to myself before starting this: 'I hope this is more than just The Age of Innocence in a modern setting'. Unfortunately, that's exactly what it turned out to be. The only interesting thing it does is set the story in north London's Jewish community (bonus points also for reworking a noted anti-semite's novel into a Jewish novel). The parallels between this society and the late c.19 New York upper class are interesting, in that it shows how the insular judgmental nature of the New York...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don't know why the end of 2012 had so many classics reimagined on my bookstand (shakes fist at NY Times). I started this one in early 2012 and got stuck for months in the first chapters of the book. I just wasn't "in the mood" to immerse myself in the world presented. But - sometime at the end of 2012 I found myself with a lazy, rainy, cold, open day to read. Remembering Wharton's books, I turned back to The Innocents. I ended up liking it quite a lot - I am surprised to be writing that here a...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Alex Templeton rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have never read “The Age of Innocence”, on which this book’s plot is based, but I enjoyed this book so much, it is going on my reading list. This version takes place in a sheltered Jewish community in modern day London, where Adam Newman has just gotten engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Rachel. Meanwhile, Rachel’s worldly cousin, Ellie, has returned to London, presenting Adam with all kinds of unanticipated temptation. This was a rare book that I really enjoyed despite the fact that two of t...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Rachel Perla rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is getting a lot of publicity. I've read profiles of the author and the book in both Vogue and Real Simple magazine. May rating is as high as it is because Francesca Segal clearly knows how to write, however the subject matter is a big old bore. The Innocents is about the tight knit Jewish Community in London and their strong need to stick to convention as well as marry within their flock. The protaganist Adam who has not sowed his wild oats is regretting his upcoming marriage to a wom...more

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About Francesca Segal

Winner of the 2012 Costa Prize for First Fiction.
Winner of the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the 2013 Sami Rohr Prize
Long-listed for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction

Francesca Segal was born in London in 1980. Brought up between the UK and America, she studied at Oxford University before becoming a journalist and writer. Her work has appeared in Granta, The Guardian, and Th...more

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Quotes from The Innocents

“The marriage of a Jewish son is a bittersweet prospect. There is relief, always, that he has navigated the tantalizing and plentiful assemblies of non-Jewish women to whom the children of the Diaspora are inevitably exposed: from the moment he enters secondary school there is the constant anxiety that a blue-eyed Christina or Mary will lure him away from the tribe. Jewish men are widely known to be uxorious in all the most advantageous ways. And so each mother fears that, whether he be short and myopic, boorish or stupid or prone to discuss his lactose intolerance with strangers, whether he be blessed with a beard rising almost to meet his hairline, he is still within the danger zone. Somewhere out there is a shiksa with designs on her son. Jewish men make good husbands. It is the Jewish woman's blessing as a wife, and her curse as a mother.” — 2 people liked it

“It had been the most relaxed that either of them had been for as long as he could remember--certainly since their engagement. Rachel had spun and twittered for the first few days, disoriented without a wedding as the epicenter of her near future. But the pleasure of the postmortem and of being, finally, just the two of them, had aided her recovery. By the end of the first week she was almost convincing when she said brightly, 'I'm so glad it's all over and we get to get on with normal life!' She had repeated this assertion a lot since they'd arrived, but that had been the first time that she hadn't sounded crestfallen.” — 1 person liked it

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