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The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City's high society around the end of the 19th century.
Set in New York at the end of the 19 th century, The House of Mirth describes Lily Bart ’s efforts to maintain her elevated position in high society. Despite being born into an important, wealthy New York family, Lily, a beautiful twenty-nine-year-old woman, remains impoverished after her father goes bankrupt during her teenage years.
98,350 ratings6,463 reviews. First published in 1905, The House of Mirth shocked the New York society it so deftly chronicles, portraying the moral, social and economic restraints on a woman who dared to claim the privileges of marriage without assuming the responsibilities.
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The House of Mirth, novel by Edith Wharton, published in 1905. The story concerns the tragic fate of the beautiful and well-connected but penniless Lily Bart, who at age 29 lacks a husband to secure her position in society.
The House of Mirth Full Book Summary. Lily Bart is an attractive woman with some important social and family ties, but at the age of 29, she is still not married. Since the death of her mother, who had an intense hatred for "dinginess," Lily began to live with her aunt, Mrs. Peniston.
