Author(s): Edith Wharton; Cynthia Griffin Wolff

fiction a-z

The classic satire of New York society and the American Dream through the misadventures of an insatiable young striver

Ambitious and wholeheartedly materialistic, Undine Spragg is a beautiful heiress who sees men as a means to an end. New York millionaires and French aristocrats fall at her feet, but each conquest is merely a stepping-stone in Undine's quest for power and position--and in her elusive search for happiness.

A biting satire from one of America's greatest writers, The Custom of the Country features a compelling and driven antiheroine, a sharp-eyed critique of the marriage market and its objectification of women, and a knowing send-up of Gilded Age snobbery.