Edith Wharton

Elizabeth Hardwick

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

New York

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

In The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton depicts the glittering salons of Gilded Age New York with precision and wit, even as she movingly portrays the obstacles that impeded women's choices at the turn of the century.

The beautiful, much-desired Lily Bart has been raised to be one of the perfect wives of the wealthy upper class, but her spark of character and independent drive prevents her from becoming one of the many women who will succeed in those circles. Though her desire for a comfortable life means that she cannot marry for love without money, her resistance to the rules of the social elite endangers her many marriage proposals. As Lily spirals down into debt and dishonor, her story takes on the resonance of classic tragedy. One of Wharton's most bracing and nuanced portraits of the life of women in a hostile, highly ordered world, The House of Mirth exposes the truths about American high society that its denizens most wished to deny. With an introduction by Pamela Knights.

The House of Mirth

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Edith Warton

Kentucky

Edith Wharton's masterpiece brings to life the grandeur and hypocrisy of a gilded age. Set among the very rich in 1870s New York, it tells the story of Newland Archer, a young lawyer engaged to marry virginal socialite May Welland, when he meets her cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska, a woman unbound by convention and surrounded by scandal. As all three are drawn into a love triangle filled with sensuality, subtlety, and betrayal, Archer faces a harrowing choice between happiness and the social code that has ruled his life. The resulting tale of thwarted love is filled with irony and surprise, struggle and acceptance. Recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize for fiction ever awarded to a woman, this great novel paints a timeless portrait of "society" still unmatched in American literature--an arbitrary, capricious social elite that professes inviolable standards but readily abandons them for greed and desire.

The Age of Innocence

Deeply moving study of the tyrannical and rigid requirements of New York high society in the late 19th century and the effect of those strictures on the lives of three people. Vividly characterized drama of affection thwarted by a man’s sense of honor, family, and societal pressures. A long-time favorite with readers and critics alike.

Category - Fiction / Classics

Format - Paperback

Condition - Good

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Est. Publication Date - Sep 1999

The House of Mirth

ISBN: 9780375753756

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Category - Fiction / Classics

Format - Paperback

Condition - Good

Listed - 3 months ago

Views - 5

Wishes - 1

Ships From - New York

Est. Publication Date - Sep 1999

The House of Mirth

ISBN: 9780375753756

Publisher Description

The House of Mirth

By:

$5.00

Meet the seller

Discover more

The Age of Innocence

By: Edith Warton

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