First published in 1905, The House of Mirth was Wharton’s first critical success as a novelist. Initially, it sold 140,000 copies in the first three months of publication, adding to Wharton’s existing fortune. Written in the style of a novel of manners, the novel is set in 1890’s New York among the ruling class society.
It tells the story of Lily Bart, a woman torn between her desire for luxurious living and a relationship based on mutual respect and love. The novel’s title derives its name from Ecclesiastes 7:4: “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.”