The Custom of the Country

Edith Wharton’s biting satire about a relentlessly ambitious New York City social climber, freshly repackaged for the Union Square & Co. Signature Editions line. Set near the turn of the 20th century, The Custom of the Country follows Undine Spragg, an uncultured Midwesterner who arrives in New York determined to conquer high society. Quickly learning how to bend and break the unwritten social rules, she ruthlessly discards anyone who stands in the way of her own rising star, leaving a wake of broken hearts and shattered lives from the ballrooms of Fifth Avenue to the salons of Paris. An antiheroine who Jia Tolentino calls “a dazzling monster,” Undine soon finds that her freedom is bought with a price far greater than money.