The Custom of the CountryThe Custom of the Country

The classic satire of New York society and the American Dream through the misadventures of an insatiable young striver--with an introduction by Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror

Ambitious and wholeheartedly materialistic, Undine Spragg is a beautiful heiress who sees men as a means to an end. New York millionaires and French aristocrats fall at her feet, but each conquest is merely a stepping-stone in Undine's quest for power and position--and in her elusive search for happiness.

A biting satire from one of America's greatest writers, The Custom of the Country features an antiheroine as compelling and driven as Scarlett O'Hara, a sharp-eyed critique of the marriage market and its objectification of women, and a knowing send-up of Gilded Age snobbery.

The Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance:

AMERICAN INDIAN STORIES * THE AWAKENING * THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY * THE HEADS OF CERBERUS * LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET * LOVE, ANGER, MADNESS * PASSING * THE TRANSFORMATION OF PHILIP JETTAN * VILLETTE