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False Dawn

The Old New York Series

by Edith Wharton

Narrator Sir Derek Jacobi

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Length 2 hours 8 minutes

Language English

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Summary
About the author
About the narrator

The first of four novellas, together called Old New York, set in the mid-1800s.

Lewis Raycie is sent on a grand tour of Europe with instructions from his father to acquire a collection of accepted Art Works. His father's dream is to own a Raphael; instead, Lewis returns with a priceless collection of Renaissance masterpieces by Piero della Francesca and others of equal stature. They are, however, unknown in America.

His father is appalled and disinherits him. His family ridicules him. But it is only after Lewis dies that the magnificent collection gets the recognition it really deserves.

Classics Fiction

Edith Wharton began writing poetry and fiction early in life but her first novel was not published until she was forty. Her novel The House of Mirth established her as a leading writer. The Age of Innocence was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. She was the first woman to receive that honor. In 1929 she was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction.

Derek Jacobi is a celebrated actor, having won a Tony® Award for Much Ado About Nothing, and an Emmy® award for Graham Greene's The Tenth Man. Jacobi is perhaps best known for his brilliant portrayal of the Emperor in the miniseries, I Claudius.