I became interested in Edith Wharton after reading Ethan Frome. I had heard of her of course, but it took a reading challenge for me to be introduced to her writing. My next book was Summer, which drew me to learn more about Wharton. I became intrigued by her life, especially as an expat living in France and all she did during WWI.
The House of Mirth sealed my, let’s call it what it is-obsession!-and I decided to read everything she has written. I am pretty far along in her novels and a few of her short stories. This year, 2026, I plan to concentrate on her nonfiction, including her autobiography A Backward Glance and French Ways and their Meaning, In Morocco, and The Decoration of Houses.
I have collected quite a few of her books as well as biographies and literary criticism. Below is the bibliography I am working through and the hot links to the books I have already read.
Novels & Novellas
The Touchstone, 1900
The Valley of Decision, 1902
Sanctuary, 1903
Madame de Treymes, 1906
The Reef, 1912
The Custom of the Country, 1913
The Bunner Sisters (1916)
The Age of Innocence, 1920 (Pulitzer Prize winner)
The Glimpses of the Moon, 1922
A Son at the Front, 1923
Old New York, 1924
The Mother’s Recompense, 1925
Twilight Sleep, 1927
The Children, 1928
Hudson River Bracketed, 1929
The Gods Arrive, 1932
The Buccaneers, 1938
Fast and Loose, (first novel, written in 1876-1877)
Short Story Collections
The Greater Inclination, 1899
Crucial Instances, 1901
The Descent of Man and Other Stories, 1904
The Hermit and the Wild Woman, 1908
Tales of Men and Ghosts, 1910
Xingu and Other Stories, 1916
Here and Beyond, 1926
Certain People, 1930
Human Nature, 1933
The World Over, 1936
Ghosts, 1937
Non-Fiction
The Decoration of Houses, 1897
Italian Villas and Their Gardens, 1904
Italian Backgrounds, 1905
A Motor-Flight Through France, 1908
Fighting France, from Dunkerque to Belfort, 1915
French Ways and Their Meaning, 1919
In Morocco, 1920
The Writing of Fiction, 1925
A Backward Glance, 1934 (autobiography)
Poetry
Verses, 1878
Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verse, 1909
Twelve Poems, 1926
As Editor
The Book of the Homeless, 1916
Eternal Passions in English Poetry, 1939
Classic Laurie 