This book 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 Lilys 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. This text was published in October 1905 to widespread critical acclaim. It became an instant bestseller and is regarded today as one of Edith Wharton's most accomplished and compelling social satires. Nota: el contenido de este libro se encuentra en inglés. 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 Lilys 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. This text was published in October 1905 to widespread critical acclaim. It became an instant bestseller and is regarded today as one of Edith Wharton's most accomplished and compelling social satires. Nota: el contenido de este libro se encuentra en inglés. This text was published in October 1905 to widespread critical acclaim. It became an instant bestseller and is regarded today as one of Edith Wharton's most accomplished and compelling social satires. Nota: el contenido de este libro se encuentra en inglés. Nota: el contenido de este libro se encuentra en inglés.