About this book
Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country follows the audacious Undine Spragg, a breathtakingly beautiful social climber determined to ascend New York's elite ranks at any cost. Transplanted from the provincial confines of Apex City, Undine navigates the rigid customs and unspoken rules of America's Gilded Age aristocracy with calculated charm and ruthless ambition, leaving a trail of broken marriages and disillusioned suitors in her wake.
As her quest for wealth, status, and happiness propels her from Manhattan's glittering drawing rooms to the palaces of Paris, Wharton's incisive social satire exposes the hollow materialism beneath the era's refined veneer. Through Undine's relentless pursuit of self-gratification and social dominance, the novelist interrogates the price of ambition, the corruption of marriage, and the emptiness of unchecked desire. First published in 1913, this masterwork of American literature remains a penetrating critique of social mobility and feminine agency in a world governed by wealth and propriety.
Perfect for listeners drawn to sharp social commentary and complex character studies, The Custom of the Country is essential Wharton—a witty, unflinching exploration of what society truly values, and what women will sacrifice to acquire it.
