Edith Wharton – 1862-1937
Born Edith Newbold Jones, Wharton lived among the New York City gentry, which became the focus of her most important novels, including The House of Mirth (1905) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Innocence (1920). Within the confines of this select universe, Wharton found boundless emotion to explore as well as the often exquisite tension between the individual and his social milieu.