Edith Wharton

Wharton was born into the influential Jones family in 1862, New York City. The expression “Keeping up with the Joneses” is said to refer to her father’s rich, upper-class family. In 1885, at age 23, Edith married Edward Robbins Wharton. The couple traveled extensively and lived in The Mount, the estate that Edith designed. After her marriage’s demise, Wharton moved to France. Around the turn of the century, Wharton began writing novels, short stories, and books on home design. Wharton’s most famous novel, The Age of Innocence, won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature, making her the first woman to win the award. Wharton died in 1937 at age 75 of a stroke.