Edith Wharton 
The House of Mirth 

The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by Edith Wharton, one of the most famous American authors of the early 20th century. Wharton’s writings were known for their witty presentation on upper class society in America. The novel tells the story of the beautiful, much-desired Lily Bart who 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. The novel traces Lily’s slow two-year social descent from privilege to a tragically lonely existence on the margins of society.

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.