Since its publication in 1905 The House of Mirth has commanded attention for the sharpness of Wharton's observations and the power of her style. A lucid, disturbing analysis of the stifling limitations imposed upon women of her generation, Wharton's tale of Lily Bart's search for a husband of position in New York Society, and betrayal of her own heart, transformed the traditional novel of manners into an arrestingly modern document of cultural anthropology. With incisive contemporary analysis, the introduction by a leading scholar of American literature updates this increasingly important work.

Edith Jones Wharton was born in New York City on January 24, 1862, into a family of merchants, bankers, and lawyers. She was educated privately by tutors and governesses. In 1885 she married Edward Wharton of Boston; the couple lived in New York, Newport, Lenox, and Paris until their divorce in 1913, when Mrs. Wharton settled permanently in Paris. During World War I, Mrs. Wharton was active in relief work in France, and in 1915, she was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor for her service. Edith Wharton's earliest stories were published in Scribner's Magazine, but she did not include these in her first collection of short stories, titled The Greater Inclination and published in 1899. Her most famous novels include The House of Mirth (1905), Ethan Frome (1911), the Pulitzer Prize-winner The Age of Innocence (1920), The Children (1928), Hudson River Bracketed (1929), and The Gods Arrive (1932). Mrs. Wharton also wrote, in addition to her novels and short stories, an autobiography, A Backward Glance (1934). She died at her villa near Paris in 1937. Anna Quindlen was a longtime columnist for the New York Times, and is also the New York Times bestselling author of Object Lessons, Black and Blue, One True Thing, Thinking Out Loud, Living Out Loud, and several books for children.