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.[a] 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...

"Former police sergeant Frank Malloy and his wife adjust to life in New York high society as they investigate a death in the field of higher learning. After spending his first few weeks as a private detective by investigating infidelities of the wealthy, Frank has a more serious case at hand. Abigail Northrup of Tarrytown, New York, was her parents' pride and joy. After graduating from a prestigious women's college in Morningside Heights, she took...

"When a man arrives at the Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency, anxious to hire them to find a missing heiress, Eunice Holbrooke realizes her past has finally caught up with her . . . and that she may no longer be able to hide under the disguise that has kept her safe for so long. Arthur Livingston's goal in life is to make his mark on the world as a mining industrialist, but after the man who could help him achieve his goal is murdered, Arthur feels compelled...

Explores "the dramatic events that transpire when an alluring, blazingly smart eighteen-year-old girl named Bronwyn, reputedly raised by wolves in the wilds of Nevada, is adopted in 1875 by the Delegates, an outlandishly wealthy Manhattan couple, and taken back East to be civilized and introduced into high society"--Amazon.com. Bronwyn, reputedly raised by wolves in the wilds of Nevada, is adopted in 1875 by the Delegates, an outlandishly wealthy...

For a young society woman seeking a favorable marriage in the late 1890s, so much depends on her social season debut. Clara Carter has been given one goal: secure the affections of the city's most eligible bachelor. Her hard work and training pays off when celebrity's spotlight turns Clara into a society-page darling. Yet Clara wonders if this is the life she really wants - especially when her best friend also sets her sights on Franklin De Vries....

One of the many immigrants struggling to survive in 1850s New York, Elise Neumann knows she must take action to care for her younger sisters. She finds a glimmer of hope when the New York Children's Aid Society starts sending skilled workers to burgeoning towns out west. But the promise of the Society's orphan trains is not all that it seems. Born into elite New York society, Thornton Quincy possesses everything except the ability to step out from...

"1867, Richmond, Virginia: Though she wears the same low-cut purple gown that is the uniform of all the girls who work at Worsham's gambling parlor, Arabella stands apart. It's not merely her statuesque beauty and practiced charm. Even at seventeen, Arabella possesses an unyielding grit, and a resolve to escape her background of struggle and poverty. Collis Huntington, railroad baron and self-made multimillionaire, is drawn to Arabella from their...

"No filmmaker captures the grandeur and energy of New York like Martin Scorsese. With this sumptuous romance, he meticulously adapted the work of another great New York artist, Edith Wharton, bringing to life her tragic novel set in the cloistered world of Gilded Age Manhattan. The Age of Innocence tells the story of Newland Archer(Daniel Day-Lewis), whoses engagement to an innocent socialite (Winona Ryder) binds him to the codes and rituals of his...

A romance in 1880s New York between a spiritualist and a man who vows to destroy her. She is Lavinia, a runaway orphan from St. Louis who learned spiritualism from gypsies and now holds seances as Countess Lovaenya. He is Edward, son of her wealthiest client. He has discovered who she really is and intends to expose her.