List $34.95

Written by Edith Wharton - Performed by Eleanor Bron - Unabridged Fiction - 8 CASSETTES - 12 hours

Publisher, Audio Partners (November 1999)

A Cover to Cover Unabridged Classic. Cover to Cover is a British Line of unabridged classic literature featuring the highest quality recordings at value prices in handsome, collectable retail packages. The entire line carries the exclusive Royal Warrant from his Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. In addition, the British Spoken Word Publishing Association has honored Cover to Cover titles as the Best Unabridged Classic Productions for an unprecedented three years in a row.

"Listening to the audio edition would be a particularly enjoyable experience since the book is so rich and textured. (And the audio edition offers 12 glorious hours of Wharton's precise, unflinching observations about society and people.)... Bron's voice is simply captivating. She wonderfully delineates the languid stupidity of Judy Tranor, the feral instincts of Bertha Dorset, the despair in Lily's voice as she drifts to destruction." --Deirdre Donahue, USA Today, January 12, 2001

"There are only three or four American novelists who can be thought of as 'major' -- and Edith Wharton is one." --Gore Vidal

"A powerful reading by Eleanor Bron in a light East coast ascendancy accent." --The Listener

"The House of Mirth is outstanding on two counts. It brings to many of us ... a gifted and original American author from the early years of the century, Edith Wharton, with a portrait of New York 'high society' as she knew it, and it has elicited a reading from Eleanor Bron which is absolutely right for characters, period, and place." --Gramophone Critics Choice

This timeless masterpiece about high society in turn-of-the-century New York is Wharton's first published novel. Lily Bart, bright and 29 years old, moves in the glittering social whirl of New York. There amongst the glib diversions of the nouveau riche, she seeks a husband who can both maintain and further her fairy-tale existence while providing unceasing admiration. Her world is shattered when Lily is accused of being the mistress of a wealthy married man. Noted for its polished prose and the psychological realities of the characters, Wharton's work attacks the hypocrisy and rigidity of the old society from which she came and the new money class she saw emerging around her.

About the Author: Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born in New York City into an older, wealthy family. She was privately educated and traveled often in Europe. The House of Mirth was her first popular novel. Ethan Frome, her next popular work, is still a minor classic. In 1925, she published her thoughts on literature in The Writing of Fiction, and in 1934 she published her autobiography, A Backward Glance.

About the Performer: Eleanor Bron, in her lively and varied career, has written and played in cabaret, written a song-cycle, published a biography of Eleanor Duse for Virago Press, made many film and television appearances, and worked extensively on stage in a rich variety of classical roles.