Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. "The Touchstone" tells the story of Stephen Glennard, a man whose career is almost over. He does not have money to marry the woman he loves, and in despair, he sells the private letters that his recently deceased lover sent to him. As expected, this act entails only grief and a sense of guilt.

Stephen Glennard is in desperate need of money. So when he becomes aware of the potential value of a series of passionate love letters written to him by the recently deceased author Margaret Aubyn, he sells them and marries the beautiful Alexa Trent. However, his shame and guilt at building a new life on the betrayal of another’s love slowly begins to eat away at him, and Margaret’s memory has a power that can reach him from beyond the grave. The first of Edith Wharton’s works depicting life in “old New York”, The Touchstone is an acutely observed novella, and an exploration of the tension between self-serving opportunism and the desire to live a moral life.

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. "The Touchstone" tells the story of Stephen Glennard, a man whose career is almost over. He does not have money to marry the woman he loves, and in despair, he sells the private letters that his recently deceased lover sent to him. As expected, this act entails only grief and a sense of guilt.

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. "The Touchstone" tells the story of Stephen Glennard, a man whose career is almost over. He does not have money to marry the woman he loves, and in despair, he sells the private letters that his recently deceased lover sent to him. As expected, this act entails only grief and a sense of guilt.

Traumatised by ghost stories in her youth, Pulitzer Prize winning author Edith Wharton (1862 -1937) channelled her fear and obsession into creating a series of spine-tingling tales filled with spirits beyond the grave and other supernatural phenomena. While claiming not to believe in ghosts, paradoxically she did confess that she was frightened of them. Wharton imbues this potent irrational and imaginative fear into her ghostly fiction to great effect. In this unique collection of finely wrought tales Wharton demonstrates her mastery of the ghost story genre. Amongst the many supernatural treats within these pages you will encounter a married farmer bewitched by a dead girl; a ghostly bell which saves a woman's reputation; the weird spectral eyes which terrorise the midnight hours of an elderly aesthete; the haunted man who receives letters from his dead wife; and the frightening power of a doppelganger which foreshadows a terrible tragedy. Compelling, rich and strange, the ghost stories of Edith Wharton, like vintage wine, have matured and grown more potent with the passing years.

In these powerful and elegant tales, Edith Wharton evokes moods of disquiet and darkness within her own era. In icy new England a fearsome double foreshadows the fate of a rich young man; a married farmer is bewitched by a dead girl; a ghostly bell saves a woman's reputation. Brittany conjures ancient cruelties, Dorset witnesses a retrospective haunting and a New York club cushions an elderly aesthete as he tells of the ghastly eyes haunting his nights. Stories include: The Lady's Maid's Bell; The Eyes; Afterward; Kerfol; The Triumph of Night: Miss Mary Pask; Bewitched; Mr Jones; Pomegranate Seed; The Looking Glass; All Souls'

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This volume includes two masterful works: nature versus nurture tale "Sanctuary" and a touching short story "The Long Run."

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This book is a collection of classic short stories like "The Last Asset", "The Pretext", "The Verdict" and "The Pot-Boiler".

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This volume includes a collection of wonderful short stories like "The Muse's Tragedy", "The Pelican", "Souls Belated", and "The Twilight of the Gods".

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This book is a collection of classic short stories like "The Last Asset", "The Pretext", "The Verdict", and "The Pot-Boiler".

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This book is a collection of classic short stories like "The Last Asset", "The Pretext", "The Verdict" and "The Pot-Boiler".

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. "The Reef is a novel that takes place in Paris and rural France and features mostly American characters. It tells the story of a romance between a widow Anna Leath and her former lover, an American diplomat George Darrow. When Darrow is almost ready to join Anna in France, he receives a telegram ordering him to wait because of an "unexpected obstacle. " Offended and disappointed, he soon meets a young actor Sophy Viner and enters into a romantic affair.

'If marriage was the slow life-long acquittal of a debt contracted in ignorance, then marriage was a crime against human nature.' Two moving stories of love, loss, desire and divorce, from one of the great chroniclers of nineteenth-century New York life. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This volume includes two masterful works: nature versus nurture tale "Sanctuary" and a touching short story "The Long Run".

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This volume includes two masterful works: nature versus nurture tale "Sanctuary" and a touching short story "The Long Run".

Edith Wharton (1862—1937) was an American novelist and short story writer. Her works show the lives of people of the late nineteenth century, the times of decline in American history. She was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. Wharton also was familiar with many famous people of the time, including President Theodore Roosevelt. This volume includes a collection of wonderful short stories like "The Muse's Tragedy", "The Pelican", "Souls Belated" and "The Twilight of the Gods".