The mystery of how a wealthy New York socialite became a major American novelist is brilliantly explored in this definitive psychological interpretation of Edith Wharton's life and work. This edition includes two new chapters illuminating Wharton's times and creative process: one on Lily Bart and the lethal stereotypes of women on the nineteenth-century stage, and another on the way Wharton's own sensual awakening led from the frozen austerity of Ethan Frome to the lyricism and tempered happiness of Summer. Everyone who admires Wharton's novels will want to experience this superb biography.