Edith Wharton (1862– 1937) was an American novelist— the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Age of Innocence in 1921— as well as a short story writer, playwright, designer, reporter, and poet. Her other works include Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth, and Roman Fever and Other Stories. Born into one of New York’ s elite families, she drew upon her knowledge of upper-class aristocracy to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age.