{"product_id":"the-custom-of-the-country-9780684825885","title":"The Custom of the Country","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"For my money, no literary antiheroine can best Undine.\" --Jia Tolentino, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdith Wharton's compulsively readable 20th century classic about the conquests of Undine Spragg, the glamorous and insatiable social climber--now with a new introduction by Brandon Taylor.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eUndine Spragg is beautiful--anyone in New York will admit to as much. But what is the point of beauty if no one can \u003ci\u003esee \u003c\/i\u003eyou? The Spraggs left the Midwest in search of a glamorous life for their daughter. Now, cooped up in a gilded uptown hotel they can barely afford, they begin to fear their move to the big city was for naught. But Undine is determined. And Undine always gets her way. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat follows is a tactical climb to the pinnacle of affluence and early 20th-century high society that will amaze and mortify. Witty and devasting, \u003ci\u003eThe Custom of the Country\u003c\/i\u003e is an astute comedy of manners and a scathing satire of upper-class life that bites to this day. More than a century after its original publication, Edith Wharton's 1913 masterpiece remains an un-put-downable showcase for one of the most memorable, controversial anti-heroines in American literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEdith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist--the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her novel \u003ci\u003eThe Age of Innocence \u003c\/i\u003ein 1921--as well as a short story writer, playwright, designer, reporter, and poet. Her other works include \u003ci\u003eEthan Frome\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe House of Mirth\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eRoman Fever and Other Stories.\u003c\/i\u003e Born into one of New York's elite families, she drew upon her knowledge of upper-class aristocracy to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50631624818962,"sku":"9780684825885","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9c83dc6d-a993-457f-8ce6-03b0cb1edd29.jpg?v=1773149663","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-custom-of-the-country-9780684825885","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}