Edith Wharton

Born into a wealthy family of real estate moguls in New York City, Edith Wharton spent much of her childhood living in Europe, where she became fluent in French, German, and Italian. Wharton rejected the prescribed gender roles of her time, preferring to read books from her father and his friends’ libraries rather than concerning herself with fashion or socializing in high society. She was also a natural storyteller, publishing poems anonymously or under pseudonyms because writing wasn’t considered a suitable activity for women in the 19th century. Around the age of 18, however, Wharton took a break from writing to become a socialite and debutante—the most acceptable path for women of her social class. In 1885, she married Edwin Robbins Wharton, a wealthy man whose lifelong struggle with depression hindered Wharton’s passion for international travel. Wharton had an affair with journalist Morton Fullerton, whom she viewed as her intellectual equal, and divorced Edwin in 1913 after 28 years of marriage. Over the years, Wharton developed a strong interest in architecture and interior design, purchasing and renovating numerous homes in the U.S. and abroad. She didn’t publish her first novel, The Age of Decision, until the age of 40, but she quickly became a prolific and critically acclaimed author. Wharton went on to publish over a dozen more novels, as well as several novellas, short story collections, poetry collections, and nonfiction books. Much of her writing focuses on a critique of the upper-class society in which she was raised. Wharton won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Age of Innocence, making her the first woman to receive the award. She died of a stroke in 1937.