Edith Wharton

This is the 17th post in our Author of the Week series.



Edith Wharton was born in 1862 in New York. She was born Edith Newbold Jones and it is said that the saying "keeping up with the Joneses" refers to her father's family. To this end her books showed a view of the privileged class that was characterized by an unmatched wit.

In 1885 she married Edward Robbins Wharton who was 12 years older. Though it was not long until he began spending his money on even younger women, which caused Edith to escape to Paris. It was there that she began an affair with Morton Fullerton who gave her the romantic and intellectual stimulation that was missing in her marriage. Edith and her husband divorced in 1923 after Edith suffered a mental breakdown and had to be hospitalized.

Edith was also known for her interior design and landscape skills, both of which are on display at her estate which she built in 1902 in Massachusets. Though after her marriage failed she moved permanently to Paris, the estate still appears as it did when Edith lived there.

In 1921 she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer prize for literature for her book The Age of Innocence. Edith wrote and published 14 novels and a number of short story collections. Though two of her novels were published after her death in 1937.

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