The House of Mirth: a 1905 novel by the American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart a well-born but impoverished woman belonging ... society around the turn of the last century.

The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by the American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York Citys high society around the turn of the last century. Wharton creates a portrait of a stunning beauty who though raised and educated to marry well both socially and economically is reaching her 29th year an age when her youthful blush is drawing to a close and her marital prospects are becoming ever more limited. The House of Mirth traces Lilys slow two-year social descent from privilege to a tragically lonely existence on the margins of society. In the words of one scholar Wharton uses Lily as an attack on an irresponsible grasping and morally corrupt upper class.The House of Mirth was Whartons second published novel and was preceded by two novellas The Touchstone (1900) Sanctuary (1903) and one full-length novel The Valley of Decision (1902). Her subsequent important novels are Ethan Frome (1911) The Custom of the Country (1913) and The Age of Innocence (1920) for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. These works influenced a host of American authors for two generations. They include F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) Sinclair Lewis (Main Street) John OHara (Appointment in Samarra) and Louis Auchincloss (The House of Five Talents).