A Son at the Front

Wharton's antiwar masterpiece probes the devastation of World War I on the home front.

Inspired by a young man Edith Wharton met during her war relief work in France, A Son at the Front opens in Paris on July 30, 1914, as Europe totters on the brink of war. Expatriate American painter John Campton-whose only son, George, having been born in Paris, must report for duty in the French army-struggles to keep his son away from the front while grappling with the moral implications of his actions....