Edith Wharton

Countess Olenska, separated from her European husband, returns to old New York society....

Beautiful, sophisticated and endlessly ambitious Lily Bart endeavours to climb the social ladder of New York's elite by securing a good match and living beyond her means....

The story follows the life of Tina, a young woman caught between the mother who adopted her - the beautiful, upstanding Delia - and her true mother, her plain, unmarried ‘aunt’ Charlotte....

The Ultimate Classics Collection: Volume Four is the fourth instalment of our wide-ranging classic collections. Volume Four features 12 timeless works that largely focuses on the greats of American and British literature.

Winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for literature ever awarded to a woman, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s elegant portrait of desire and betrayal in old New York. In the highest circle of New York social life during the 1870s, Newland Archer, a young lawyer, prepares to marry the...

Nick Lansing and Susy Branch are young, attractive but impoverished New Yorkers. They are in love and decide to marry, but realise their chances of happiness are slim....

Lewis Raycie is sent on a Grand Tour of Europe with instructions from his father to acquire a collection of accepted Art Works. His father's dream is to own a Raphael....

Spanning four decades in the mid-nineteenth century, the interconnected novellas of Old New York lay out in vivid detail the complex and inscrutable codes, customs, and taboos of New York society in classic Wharton style. In False Dawn (1840s), Mr. Halston Raycie sends his son Lewis to Europe to...

In the glittering salons and drawing rooms of Gilded Age New York, where wealth is worshipped and reputations are fragile, Lily Bart is the star of the show.

The New England Masterworks Collection gathers ten works connected with New England life, literature, history, reform, and imagination.

Ethan Frome, a poor, downtrodden New England farmer, is trapped in a loveless marriage to his invalid wife, Zeena. His ambition and intelligence are oppressed by Zeena's cold, conniving character. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie arrives to help care for her, Ethan is immediately taken by...

A wonderful collection of 50 of the best classic ghost stories ever written....

This carefully curated collection brings together some of the most influential and enduring works in American literature.

Having been born into a life of wealth and privilege, Edith Wharton was part of the small clique of aristocratic families that held sway over New York City's social and cultural life. In The Age of Innocence, Wharton looks back fondly on the life of the privileged class....

Wharton's grace with the language and her understanding of the human condition are beautifully presented in these stories that range from a mother's love for her son to a ghostly visitation....

Wealthy young American girls visit England and lay siege to the hearts of members of the nobility. This last, unfinished novel of Edith Wharton's is witty, romantic and very perceptive....

Lily Bart enjoys an equitable standing within the New York City elite. Although she desires a comfortable life and has received generous proposals from wealthy suitors, Lily remains single with hope for an honest and loving marriage. However, her life takes an unexpected twist when a nasty bit...

Penguin Classics presents Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by Nathan Osgood. 'He seemed a part of the mute melancholy landscape, an incarnation of its frozen woe, with all that was warm and...

Unlike the other arts, American literature has been a powerful, influential, and leading aspect of American culture....

Rescued from a poverty-stricken mountain life, Charity Royall lives as ward to Lawyer Royall in the small New England town of North Dormer. However, Charity is bored by her job and feels thwarted by the order that governs her society–until a young man plucks her from North Dormer life.