House of Mirth

House of Mirth is a great novel written by Edith Wharton. When it was first published in 1905, Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth", received rave reviews, selling over 140,000 copies in its first three months. The New York Times called it "a novel of remarkable power" and established Wharton as a major American writer who would later become the first women to receive the Pulitzer Prize for literature. Said to have accurately revealed the morality and manners of the golden age of New York aristocracy, Wharton satirically unfolds the descent of the beautiful but ill-fated Lilly Bart, as she sabotages her chances of a wealthy marriage, loses the sympathy of her unforgiving social circle, and descends into a life of poverty and despair. In The House of Mirth, which helped to establish Edith Wharton's literary reputation, she honed her acerbic style and discovered her defining subject: the fashionable New York society in which she had been raised and that held the power to debase both people and ideals. In this devastatingly accurate and finely wrought tale, Lily Bart, the poor relation of a wealthy woman, is beautiful, intelligent, and hopelessly addicted to the moneyed world of luxury and grace. But her good taste and moral sensibility render her unfit for survival in a vulgar society whose glittering social edifice is based on a foundation of pure greed. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is a novel highly recommended to read.