The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton. I'm not a Wharton fan, but after analyzing sections of this book for a class on American art in the Gilded Age, the story seemed interesting enough for me to give her a second chance.
In this “elegantly enigmatic tale” (Booklist), a journalist falls in love with a widow in a remote Soviet village — only to find himself competing with a ghost. “A richly textured story of love and loss” (Publishers Weekly).