Edith Wharton

The custom of the country

Trish

...However, she was not always happy. She had everything she wanted, but she still felt, at times, that there were other things she might want if she knew about them.

Edith Wharton dazzles again! This time we meet only child and rich spoiled brat, Undine Spragg, who is on a mission to ingratiate herself in New York's upperclass society but is having trouble making the best of her limited funds and connections. How is a beautiful and charming girl to be taken seriously when all that matters in this exclusive world is wealth? Marry into money, of course! Undine was born for this lifestyle, all she needs is a benefactor husband she can mold and manipulate into giving her what she wants whenever she wants it. 

Enter Ralph Marvell - he's handsome, well bred, in line to inherit, and completely enamored by Undine's fresh beauty and perspective. She thinks he's the perfect man to cater to her every need but is love and adoration enough to change the listless poet? Undine is ambitious and driven where Ralph is languorous. How the two of their lives intertwine and change each other and the people around them is the brilliant and tragic story of The Custom of the Country.

Like always, I am enamored by the characters and settings in this novel. Wharton has once again written a masterpiece that transcends time and place. It is a harrowing expose on the realities of marriage, business, parenthood, greed, missed opportunities, and how, in the real world, love is rarely ever enough.

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The custom of the country

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