The House of Mirth (Vintage Classics)

Review\n"Her prose is so effortlessly elegant that you're rarely aware as they purl by that the sentences are so pretty . . . Edith Wharton's drive, independence, wilfulness and autodidactic mastery of the English language were extraordinary, and I bashfully claim her as a kindred spirit." —Lionel Shriver, author, We Need to Talk about Kevin\nThe tragic fall of one of the most heartbreaking characters in American literature, a beautiful socialite who loses her footing in the savage social-climbing world of 19th century New York high society Lily Bart has no fortune, but she possesses everything else she needs to make an excellent marriage: beauty, intelligence, a love of luxury, and an elegant skill in negotiating the hidden traps and false friends of New York's high society. But time and again Lily cannot bring herself to make the final decisive move: to abandon her sense of self and a chance of love for the final soulless leap into a mercenary union. Her time is running out, and degradation awaits. Edith Wharton's masterful novel is a tragedy of money, morality, and missed opportunity.