Crucial Instances (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Edith Wharton

Wharton’s second short story collection (1901) includes witty and perceptive takes on the wealthy and cultured, such as “The Angel at the Grave,” “The Recovery,” “The Copy: A Dialogue,” and “The Rembrandt,” as well as forays into the supernatural with “The Duchess at Prayer” and “The Moving Finger.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Mar 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411440968

Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (1862–1937) was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Having grown up in an upper-class, tightly controlled society known as “Old New York” at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage, Wharton broke through these strictures to become one of that society’s fiercest critics as well as one of America’s greatest writers. The author of more than 40 books in 40 years, Wharton’s oeuvre includes classic works of American literature such as The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence, and Ethan Frome, as well as authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel.