A detailed and weighty tome for ‘gallant and magnificent’ satirist Edith Wharton

This book is an exhaustive record of the career of a brilliant and prolific writer; predictably, it is itself exhausting. Most readers must be impressed by and grateful for its detail, its insights and its comprehensive scope, but it is a big book and a demanding one

Edith Wharton was, according to Henry James, “a lady who consumes worlds as you and I consume apples”. Wharton and James were close platonic friends for many years and took many a journey together as they reduced the pre-war map of Europe to an itinerary of locations either for holidays or for life.