2021 Reprint of the 1906 Edition. "A staple in my feminist theory and sex-gender courses, this novel provides endless opportunities for discussion of the situation of women, of performing 'feminine,' and of the insecurities and dangers for women in a society with limited economic possibilities." ―Paula Backscheider, Auburn University.

The House of Mirth tells the story of Lily Bart, aged 29, beautiful, impoverished and in need of a rich husband to safeguard her place in the social elite, and to support her expensive habits - her clothes, her charities, and her gambling. Unwilling to marry without both love and money, Lily becomes vulnerable to the kind of gossip and slander which attach to a girl who has been on the marriage market for too long. Wharton charts the course of Lily's life, providing, along the way, a wider picture of a society in transition, a rapidly changing New York where the old certainties of manners, morals and family have disappeared, and the individual has become an expendable commodity.