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 the old certainties of manners, morals and family have disappeared and the individual has become an expendable commodity.
美国小说家，以描写她所处的上层社会的故事而闻名。华顿于19世纪90年代起以创作短篇小说为开端，正式开始了写作生涯，在世纪之交又涉足长篇小说的写作。1909年，小说《欢乐之家》出版后，立即引起文坛瞩目，该书曾位于畅销书排行榜之首长达4个月之久。1920年出版的《纯真年代》被许多评论家视为华顿最优秀的作品，她因此赢得了1921年的普利策小说奖。华顿是第一位荣膺这个奖项的女性作家。她一生笔耕不辍，堪称高产。主要作品还有：《伊坦·弗洛美》《暗礁》《乡村习俗》《夏天》《月亮的隐现》。