Edith Wharton(1862-1937) is a central figure in American literature, a masterful chronicler of her age and prolific writer in many modes. Her major works includeThe House of Mirth(1905),Ethan Frome(1911),The Custom of the Country(1913) andThe Age of Innocence(1920), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize, the first awarded to a woman. Maureen Howard, the editor of this volume, is the author of numerous novels, including Grace Abounding, Expensive Habits, and Natural History, all of which were nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award. She has taught at a number of American universities, including Columbia, Princeton, Amherst, and Yale, and was awarded the Academy Award in Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Wharton's examinations of upper-class New York society were rendered in effortless prose so subtle that many readers missed the depth and breadth of her art. These two collections of short fiction belong on the shelves of anyone who loves literature. --Dallas Morning News A splendid and satisfying publication, and a landmark in the history of Edith Wharton's ever-shifting reputation. --New York Review of Books