This collection appeared in book form in 1908, and consists of seven stories first serialized between 1904 and 1908: "The Hermit and the Wild Woman," "The Last Asset," "In Trust," "The Pretext," "The Verdict," "The Pot-Boiler," and "The Best Man."

Author Biography

Edith Wharton (1862 - 1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, 1928 and 1930. Wharton combined her insider's view of America's privileged classes with a brilliant, natural wit to write humorous, incisive novels and short stories of social and psychological insight. She was well acquainted with many of her era's other literary and public figures, including Theodore Roosevelt.