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A young man’s personal and professional life unravel when a family secret is exposed. A Woman of No Importance, by Oscar Wilde, is a society play similar to Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest. An unsuspecting clerk makes a startling revelation regarding his mother and wealthy employer.
About the author
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was a Dublin-born poet and playwright who studied at the Portora Royal School, before attending Trinity College and Magdalen College, Oxford. The son of two writers, Wilde grew up in an intellectual environment. As a young man, his poetry appeared in various periodicals including Dublin University Magazine. In 1881, he published his first book Poems, an expansive collection of his earlier works. His only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was released in 1890 followed by the acclaimed plays Lady Windermere’s Fan (1893) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Summary
Gerald Arbuthnot receives a promotion from Lord Illingworth, a worldly politician who has a sordid history of women, one of whom is Gerald’s widowed mother. When their connection is revealed, the young man questions his past, present and future aspirations.
A Woman of No Importance opens with a high-class party featuring a group of society’s most illustrious citizens. In the midst of the event, Gerald Arbuthnot enters and announces his new position as secretary to the renown, Lord Illingworth. It’s an exciting opportunity that pleases Miss Hester Worsley, an American visitor and admirer of Gerald. What should be a cause for celebration becomes an awkward moment of truth between Lord Illingworth and Gerald’s mother, Mrs. Rachel Arbuthnot.
Set in the late-nineteenth century, A Woman of No Importance is a commentary on contemporary English society. One family’s façade is broken by a hidden truth testing the relationship of mother and son. It’s a provocative tale about the power of seduction and political ambition.
With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of A Woman of No Importance is both modern and readable.
