Showcasing the talent of one of the greatest novelists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this collection gathers five of Edith Wharton's short stories. Jealous husbands, spinsters who have wasted away their lives, and bored ladies infatuated with money and aspirations populate these stories that range from moral drama to satire. Though she is primarily known for her novels, Wharton's sense of humor and spirit still shine through in these shorter works.Mrs. Ballinger is one of the ladies who pursue Culture in bands, as though it were dangerous to meet alone. To this end she had founded the Lunch Club, an association composed of herself and several other indomitable huntresses of erudition. The Lunch Club, after three or four winters of lunching and debate, had acquired such local distinction that the entertainment of distinguished strangers became one of its accepted functions; in recognition of which it duly extended to the celebrated "Osric Dane," on the day of her arrival in Hillbridge, an invitation to be present at the next meeting.
