# The House of Mirth

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton/the-house-of-mirth/9780140187298

![The House of Mirth](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/edith-wharton/the-house-of-mirth_978-01-4018-729-8.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2001%3A50%3A28)

- Book: [The House of Mirth](https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton/the-house-of-mirth) ([The House of Mirth.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton/the-house-of-mirth.md))
- Authors: [Edith Wharton](https://www.bookquiver.com/edith-wharton)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-01-4018-729-8
- Pages: 368
- Published: 1993-11-25
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

A black comedy of manners about vast wealth and a woman who can define herself only through the perceptions of others. The beautiful Lily Bart lives among the nouveaux riches of New York City – people whose millions were made in railroads, shipping, land speculation and banking. In this morally and aesthetically bankrupt world, Lily, age twenty-nine, seeks a husband who can satisfy her cravings for endless admiration and all the trappings of wealth. But her quest comes to a scandalous end when she is accused of being the mistress of a wealthy man. Exiled from her familiar world of artificial conventions, Lily finds life impossible.