About this book
Edith Wharton's Custom of the Country is a blistering social satire that tracks the relentless ambition of Undine Spragg as she claws her way from Midwestern Apex City to New York and Paris in pursuit of wealth and status. Published in 1913, this classic novel exposes the moral and emotional costs of American social climbing during the late Gilded Age and early Progressive Era.
Undine, charming and unapologetically materialistic, treats marriage as the surest route to power—discarding love, decorum, and convention in a singular quest for social elevation. Wharton’s razor-sharp prose and keen psychological insight dissect themes of consumerism, gender and marriage, class mobility, and the collision between American nouveau riche values and European sophistication. The result is a darkly comic yet devastating portrait of a society driven by appearances, where manners and money mask emptiness.
Ideal for fans of literary fiction and social satire, this audiobook will appeal to listeners who enjoy incisive character studies, historical context, and witty, precise narration. Listen for Wharton’s enduring relevance: a masterful critique of ambition and entitlement that still resonates in today’s culture of conspicuous consumption.
