The house of mirth

Edith Wharton, 1862-1937

Sound recording - 2012

Lily Bart moves in the shallow, new-moneyed class of New York society in which men make the money and women spend it. There amongst the glib diversions of the newly rich, she seeks a husband who can not only maintain and further her in this charmed existence, but can also provide unstinting admiration. Scandal, however, intervenes. Accused of being the mistress of a wealthy married man, Lily must withdraw from society. She becomes a milliner, but finds life outside the hothouse unendurable. When it was published, The House of Mirth shocked many by its candor, but it established Edith Wharton as a supreme novelist.