The Custom of the Country

The Custom of the Country (1913) is a scathing critique of American upward mobility, as told through the journey of overindulged Undine Spragg. She moves from Apex City to New York and then Paris in pursuit of two things - money and status. She will stop at nothing to achieve this goal, no matter how many affairs, lies, and divorces it takes. Edith Wharton (1863-1937) was an American author. Best known for her sharp, scathing, and fierce stories about the upper-class society into which she was born and its treatment of women, she wrote more than 40 books. Her major works include "The Age of Innocence" (1920), "Ethan Frome" (1911), and "The House of Mirth" (1905). Beyond novels, she wrote authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. She was the first female author to win the Pulitzer Prize, and her work is unmissable for all fans of classic authors, from Joseph Conrad to Virginia Woolf.