Reviews

"Lively . . . Insightful . . . Thorough and intelligent . . .This meticulous, generous biography is likely to suffice for a long time . . . One can at last grasp the full range of Wharton's writing and the full power of her energy."
-Diane Johnson, "Washington Post Book World"
"A splendid biography, extremely rich in social and historical detail, a telling picture of the many years Wharton's life spanned . . . Biography is usually the revenge of little people on big people . . .but Lee is subtle and big-hearted enough to understand her subject . . . Lee never reduces Wharton's books to veiled autobiography, just as she is never reluctant to interpret them in the light of Wharton's life . . . A sophisticated, finely written portrait . . . Edith Wharton would have been horrified by the 'indiscretions' in this biography, but it is the balanced, richly detailed, and researched portrait she deserves."
-Edmund White, "The New York Review of Books"
"A rich tapestry. Therep

" Lively . . . Insightful . . . Thorough and intelligent . . .This meticulous, generous biography is likely to suffice for a long time . . . One can at last grasp the full range of Wharton' s writing and the full power of her energy."
- Diane Johnson, "Washington Post Book World"
" A splendid biography, extremely rich in social and historical detail, a telling picture of the many years Wharton' s life spanned . . . Biography is usually the revenge of little people on big people . . .but Lee is subtle and big-hearted enough to understand her subject . . . Lee never reduces Wharton' s books to veiled autobiography, just as she is never reluctant to interpret them in the light of Wharton' s life . . . A sophisticated, finely written portrait . . . Edith Wharton would have been horrified by the ' indiscretions' in this biography, but it is the balanced, richly detailed, and researched portrait she deserves."
- Edmund White, "The New York Review of Books"
" A rich tapestry. There is so much here . . . "Edith Wharton" shimmers with details about a vanished world, and Lee . . . brings it to vivid life."
- Jacqueline Blais, "USA Today"
" A remarkable feat . . . Nobody has done Edith Wharton such careful justice as Lee."
- Claire Messud, "New York Times Book Review"
" Magnificent . . . Unsurpassable in scope and surely in sensitivity . . . Filled to bursting with the friends, travels, projects and writings that engaged Wharton' s attention and energies."
- Linda Simon, "Newsday"
" Groundbreaking . . . Asophisticated, persuasive, powerfully intelligent masterwork."
- Lisa Shea, "Elle"
" Enables readers to feel they have known Mrs. W. all their lives."
- Barbara Amiel, "Wall Street Journal"
" Stunning . . . Rich . . . Wonderfully humanizing."
- Megan O' Grady, "Vogue"
" Rich . . . Fine . . . Much more than a literary study."
- Bruce Allen, "The Washington Times"
" Elegant . . . not only the best book on its subject, but one of the finest literary biographies to appear in recent years."
- Greg Johnson, "Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
" A fascinating portrait of a brilliant writer."
- "The Economist"
" Absorbing . . . An exemplary biography . . . Sure to be the standard work on Wharton for years to come."
- "Kirkus"
" A major achievement . . . In no other biography is there a more perceptive analysis of how Wharton' s life was reflected in her work."
- "Publishers Weekly"
" Tremendous . . . Enlightening . . . Rises to landmark status . . . The formidable Mrs. Wharton is given great humanity here."
- "Booklist"
" The fullest biography of Wharton to date . . . Superb in using the fiction as a way to read the life, defining their relation in a way that is at once seamless but never simplified . . . Lee' s portraiture at its best seems Proustian."
- Michael Gorra, "Times Literary Supplement" (London)
" Monumentally conceived and impressively executed . . . Lee is out to understand Wharton, not to vilify or sanctify her .. . She is a discriminating and generous critic who offers full, fresh and incisive discussions of all the novels and scores of the short stories."
- Elaine Showalter, "The Guardian "(London)
" Epic and definitive . . . Lee is a confident and vivid critic."
- Jane Shilling, "The Times" (London)
" This is a glorious biography . . . The time is ripe for a new biography of Edith Wharton of this intimacy and on this scale . . . Lee the biographer pursues her subject down every winding corridor, into every hidden passage and dark corner . . . Her critical exploration of Edith Wharton' s work is dazzlingly assured . . . A feat of exhaustive research, and finely tuned to Wharton' s creative achievement at the same time . . . [Wharton] could scarcely have failed to be impressed by . . . its artistic sympathy, its sonorous depths, and its soaring conception."
- Mark Bostridge, "The Independent" on Sunday (London)
" Excellent . . . Particularly masterful in her discussion of Wharton' s fiction . . . A magnificent and subtle biography of a magnificent and subtle writer."
- Caroline Moore, "Sunday Telegraph" (London)
" Lee' s subtle and painstaking ability to illuminate the work with the life, and to make the life itself so interesting makes this a superb biography."
- Colm To ibi n, "The Irish Times"