Kate Chopin's The Awakening was condemned as morbid and vulgar, quietly pulled from the shelves, and left unread for fifty years - and is now recognized as a landmark of American literature. Summering on Grand Isle, a young Creole wife learns to swim and begins to want a fuller life than Louisiana in 1899 will allow her, with consequences she cannot take back. Gathered here with a selection of Chopin's finest short stories, this edition presents the complete and unabridged texts, newly typeset and illustrated with 36 full-page color plates.