Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an author, poet, garden and interior designer. Born into New York's upper class and growing up in the Gilded Age, she was discouraged from writing by her family and began her career as an author by writing in secret. Although she was forbidden to read novels until she was married, Ms. Wharton went on to write several landmarks of American fiction, including The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome. Making her second home in Paris, her humanitarian efforts in France during World War I won her the French Legion of Honor. She was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Literature.
