The House of Mirth
Synopsis
A bestseller when it was originally published nearly a century ago, Wharton's first literary success was set amid the previously unexplored territory of fashionable, turn-of-the-century New York society, an area with which she was intimately familiar. The tragic love story reveals the destructive effects of wealth and social hypocrisy on Lily Bart, a ravishing beauty. Impoverished but well-born, Lily realizes a secure future depends on her acquiring a wealthy husband. Her downfall begins with a romantic indiscretion, intensifies with an accumulation of gambling debts, and climaxes in a maelstrom of social disasters. More a tale of social exclusion than of failed love, The House of Mirthreveals Wharton's compelling gifts as a storyteller and her clear-eyed observations of the savagery beneath the well-bred surface of high society.
- Copyright:
- 2010 Simon
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- ISBN-13:
- 9781471152481
- Publisher:
- Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
- Date of Addition:
- 2016-01-14T08:14:29Z
- Language:
- English
- Categories:
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.