An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Clyde Griffiths is caught between two worlds: the dangerous reality of Roberta's pregnancy and the intoxicating promise of social ascent through Sondra Finchley. As he moves more confidently among the wealthy, Sondra's playful tenderness and the possibility of a summer romance—canoes, horseback rides, dances, and secret meetings—feed his dreams of status, while her family remains blind to the intimacy growing between them. Yet every step toward that glittering future tightens the trap around him, especially as Roberta presses him to marry her before her condition can no longer be hidden. When Clyde sees Roberta's poor, isolated home and her father's harsh life, the gulf between his origins and the world he craves becomes painfully clear. He responds with evasions, staged sympathy, and desperate delay, even trying to buy more time with talk of money and preparations. Meanwhile, legal minds begin reshaping the fatal boating incident into a defense built on panic, guilt, and accident, turning Clyde's deceit into a story of moral conflict. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.