[Gutenberg 53272] • Säätynsä uhri

*An alternate cover edition can be found[here](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29924504-the-house-of-mirth) or [here](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34727877-the-house-of-mirth) *

*The House of Mirth* tells the story of Lily Bart, aged 29, beautiful, impoverished and in need of a rich husband to safeguard her place in the social elite, and to support her expensive habits - her clothes, her charities and her gambling. Unwilling to marry without both love and money, Lily becomes vulnerable to the kind of gossip and slander which attach to a girl who has been on the marriage market for too long. Wharton charts the course of Lily's life, providing, along the way, a wider picture of a society in transition, a rapidly changing New York where old certainties of manners, morals and family have disappeared and the individual has become an expendable commodity.

*The House of Mirth* was published in October 1905 to widespread critical acclaim. It became an instant bestseller and is regarded today as one of Edith Wharton's most accomplished and compelling social satires.