This timeless masterpiece about high society in turn-of-the-century New York is Wharton's first published novel. Lily Bart, bright and 29 years old, moves in the glittering social whirl of New York. There amongst the glib diversions of the nouveau riche, she seeks a husband who can both maintain and further her fairy-tale existence while providing unceasing admiration. Her world is shattered when Lily is accused of being the mistress of a wealthy married man. Noted for its polished prose and the psychological realities of the characters, Wharton's work attacks the hypocrisy and rigidity of the old society from which she came and the new money class she saw emerging around her. A Cover to Cover Unabridged Classic.