A Feast of Words: The Triumph of Edith Wharton

viii, 453 pp. Includes black & white photographs. "The mystery of how a wealthy New York socialite became a major American novelist is brilliantly explored in this fascinating critical biography. No one who admires Wharton's novels or enjoys the films made from them will want to be without this superb biography." "Cynthia Griffin Wolff traces the process by which Edith Wharton emerged from such a troubled life to literary triumph. Repressed from her youth, Wharton does battle with the monsters that haunt first the young artist, then the mature woman, to become fully both in the end." -- AudioFile