Edith Wharton 
Bunner Sisters (Annotated) 

• This edition includes the following editor’s introduction: Edith Wharton, the feminism of a Pulitzer Prize winner

Originally published in 1916, “Bunner Sisters” is a novella by American author Edith Wharton. Inexplicably, this work has had a long history of being overlooked. Rejected twice by
Scribner’s because of its length and its ‘
being unsuitable to serial publication’, it was eventually published in the collection “
Xingu and Other Stories” and is now considered an essential work of American literature.



‘Bunner Sisters’ takes place in a shabby neighbourhood in New York City. The two
Bunner sisters, Ann Eliza the elder, and Evelina the younger, keep a small shop selling artificial flowers and small handsewn articles to Stuyvesant Square’s female population.

Ann Eliza gives Evelina a clock for her birthday. The purchase introduces them to the clockmaker, Mr. Ramy, and sets them on a course that will change their lives forever.