{"product_id":"the-children-9780684831558","title":"The Children","description":"A bestseller when it was first published in 1928, Edith Wharton's \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e is a comic, bittersweet novel about the misadventures of a bachelor and a band of precocious children. The seven Wheater children, stepbrothers and stepsisters grown weary of being shuttled from parent to parent \"like bundles,\" are eager for their parents' latest reconciliation to last. A chance meeting between the children and the solitary forty-six-year-old Martin Boyne leads to a series of unforgettable encounters. Among the colorful cast of characters are the Wheater adults, who play out their own comedy of marital errors; the flamboyant Marchioness of Wrench; and the vivacious fifteen-year-old Judith Wheater, who captures Martin's heart. With deft humor and touching drama, Wharton portrays a world of intrigues and infidelities, skewering the manners and mores of Americans abroad.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAmerica's most famous woman of letters, and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize, \u003cb\u003eEdith Wharton\u003c\/b\u003e was born into one of the last \"leisured class\" families in New York City, as she put it, in 1862. Educated privately, she was married to Edward Wharton in 1885, and for the next few years, they spent their time in the high society of Newport (Rhode Island), then Lenox (Massachusetts) and Europe. It was in Europe that Wharton first met Henry James, who was to have a profound and lasting influence on her life and work. Wharton's first published book was a work of nonfiction, in collaboration with Ogden Codman, \u003ci\u003eThe Decoration of Houses\u003c\/i\u003e (1897), but from early on, her marriage had been a source of distress, and she was advised by her doctor to write fiction to relieve her nervous tension. Wharton's first short stories appeared in \u003ci\u003eScribner's Magazine, \u003c\/i\u003e and though she published several volumes of fiction around the turn of the century, including \u003ci\u003eThe Greater Inclination\u003c\/i\u003e (1899), \u003ci\u003eThe Touchstone\u003c\/i\u003e (1900), \u003ci\u003eCrucial Instances\u003c\/i\u003e (1901), \u003ci\u003eThe Valley of Decision\u003c\/i\u003e (1902), \u003ci\u003eSanctuary\u003c\/i\u003e (1903), and \u003ci\u003eThe Descent of Man and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e (1904), it wasn't until 1905, with the publication of the bestselling \u003ci\u003eThe House of Mirth, \u003c\/i\u003e that she was recognized as one of the most important novelists of her time for her keen social insight and subtle sense of satire. In 1906, Wharton visited Paris, which inspired \u003ci\u003eMadame de Treymes\u003c\/i\u003e (1907), and she made her home there in 1907, finally divorcing her husband in 1912. The years before the outbreak of World War I represent the core of her artistic achievement, when \u003ci\u003eEthan Frome\u003c\/i\u003e (1911), \u003ci\u003eThe Reef\u003c\/i\u003e (1912), and \u003ci\u003eThe Custom of the Country\u003c\/i\u003e (1913) were published. During the war, she remained in France organizing relief for Belgian refugees, for which she was later awarded the Legion of Honor. She also wrote two novels about the war, \u003ci\u003eThe Marne\u003c\/i\u003e (1918) and \u003ci\u003eA Son at the Front\u003c\/i\u003e (1923), and continued, in France, to write about New England and the Newport society she had known so well in \u003ci\u003eSummer\u003c\/i\u003e (1917), the companion to \u003ci\u003eEthan Frome, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Innocence\u003c\/i\u003e (1920), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. Wharton died in France in 1937. Her other works include \u003ci\u003eOld New York\u003c\/i\u003e (1924), \u003ci\u003eThe Mother's Recompense\u003c\/i\u003e (1925), \u003ci\u003eThe Writing of Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e (1925), \u003ci\u003eThe Children\u003c\/i\u003e (1928), \u003ci\u003eHudson River Bracketed\u003c\/i\u003e (1929), and her autobiography, \u003ci\u003eA Backward Glance\u003c\/i\u003e (1934).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50503643463954,"sku":"9780684831558","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cd2c554d-d34a-4de1-bf02-7d231c1f4686.jpg?v=1730794823","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-children-9780684831558","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}