The mother's recompense

"The Mother's Recompense" by Edith Wharton is a story set in the early 1900s that reveals the life of a woman named Kate Clephane who is in her early forties. She considers her current life and her past as she tries to rebuild a connection with her daughter, Anne, from whom she has been estranged. The novel explores feeling alone, what society expects, and trying to figure out who you are, while exposing the emotional challenges of motherhood and making amends. The story starts with Kate in her small hotel room on the Riviera, thinking about her past filled with both good and bad experiences. When she finds out that her former mother-in-law has passed away, she starts to think about what this means for her relationship with her daughter, whom she hasn't seen in years. The start of the story shows Kate's internal battle with how she sees herself, feeling cut off from others, and wanting to connect, setting the scene for when she goes back to New York and the difficulties she will face in trying to be a mother again. How Kate is described, along with her maid Aline and brief interactions with her past, paints a clear picture of her feelings as she thinks about her life choices and the chance for a fresh start with Anne.