Born Edith Newbold Jones in New York City into a wealthy and socialite family. From 4 to 10, she traveled with her family throughout Europe, was educated by governesses and private tutors, and became fluent in French, German, and Italian. After returning to the US, she used her father’s library to further her knowledge.
From an early age, she wrote fiction and poetry, and at 11, she tried to complete her first novel. At 15, she published her first work under a pseudonym, a translation of a German poem. That same year, she wrote her first novella, Fast and Loose. The following year, she published her first poetry collection, titled Verses.
She continued to publish her poems in various newspapers and magazines. At 17, after coming out as a debutante to society, she stopped publishing for almost a decade, dedicating her time to the social events of the upper class, which she later used as inspiration for her work.
At 23, she married Edward Robbins Wharton. The couple settled in Newport, RI, and took annual vacations in Europe, mainly in Italy, which was her favorite. At the time, she returned to writing, combining it with her love to design; in 1897, she co-authored the design and architecture book The Decoration of Houses. In 1889, at 27, Wharton published the poem The Last Giustiniani, followed by the short story Mrs. Manstey’s View.
In 1902, the Whartons bought The Mount estate in Lenox, MA, where she designed its interior and gardens. There, with the right setting, she wrote some of her best-known works, including the best-seller The House of Mirth in 1905 and Ethan Frome in 1911. In her writing, she used the physical space of the house to mirror the relationship between its inhabitants and their emotions. She dealt with topics such as individual and social fulfillment, the desire for freedom, old money vs. new money, and repressed sexuality, criticizing the mannerisms of the golden-age high society and reviling its hypocrisies.
At the time, Wharton and her husband’s relationship disintegrated, and they divorced in 1913. Afterward, she moved permanently to France. When WWI broke out, Wharton founded several humanitarian organizations, established hostels for refugees, living facilities for tuberculosis sufferers, workshops for unemployed seamstresses, and schools for refugee children. In 1916, amid the war, she received the French Legion of Honor for her charitable work. She also contributed her writing skills by publishing testimonies from the French frontline.
The war did not prevent Wharton from writing original materials, and between 1914-1918, she published two novels, two short story collections, and a non-fictional book titled Fighting France: From Dunkerque to Belfort.
In 1920, Wharton published her most famous work, the novel The Age of Innocence, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, becoming the first woman to win the award. Throughout her life, Wharton published over 50 books, including 18 novels, 7 novellas, 85 short stories, 3 poetry collections, an autobiography, and a dozen books on travel and design.
She died of a stroke at the age of 75.
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