Edith Wharton: An Extraordinary Life

This profusely illustrated biography of Wharton (1862-1937) concentrates on the American writer as a continental traveler whose aesthetic appreciation of architecture and interior design found expression in the homes she maintained. Although she was best known for novels portraying upper-class society ( House of Mirth , 1905), Wharton also wrote about home decoration ( Italian Villas and Their Gardens , 1904). Dwight, a freelance writer and lecturer, skillfully details, with accompanying illustrations, Wharton's acute visual sense with which she designed the rooms and gardens of her homes in the U.S. and Europe. In this adequate account of Wharton's life, the author covers her divorce and her love affair with Morton Fullerton, as well as her friendships with writer Henry James and art critic Bernard Berenson. Also documented is the well-organized war relief for WW I refugees that Wharton established in Paris. Photos. Reader's Subscription Book Service alternate. (June)