No Gifts from Chance

Shari Benstock is Professor of English at the University of Miami (Florida).

Praise for the first edition (published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1994): "Here, at last, is Edith Wharton in all her power, her ambitions, and her angers. For the first time we have a biography using new material and allowing us to acclaim an accomplished though prejudiced woman, one who was against women's suffrage, who surrounded herself with famous men, yet was the author of insightful, feminist novels. Here is the truth, brilliantly recounted, compelling to read." Carolyn G. Heilbrun, author of Writing a Woman's Life "This may be the best-written biography of the [1990s]. Evocative, rich in new material, and always focused on Edith Wharton the woman, Benstock's way of telling the woman writer's story is superb. If we thought we knew the Wharton story before, this book proves us wrong." Linda Wagner-Martin, author of Sylvia Plath: A Biography "It was indeed an age of innocence but it was also an age of experience. Shari Benstock's biography of Edith Wharton captures that world. Beautifully researched and impressively thorough, this new biography is especially interesting about Wharton's family and her relationships. It will benefit all students and lovers of her fiction." Fred Kaplan, author of Henry James: The Imagination of Genius "Shari Benstock's biography is quite simply the standard biography of Edith Wharton. This is true even though other excellent biographies preceded hers." Carol J. Singley, author of Edith Wharton: Matters of Mind and Spirit

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsBook I. The Old Order Chapter 1. A Question of HeritageChapter 2. ExplorationsChapter 3. EndeavorsBook II. Choices Chapter 4. AwakeningsChapter 5. EstrangementsChapter 6. DeparturesBook III. Rewards Chapter 7. CharityChapter 8. ProfitsChapter 9. LossesChapter 10. LoyaltiesArchives and AbbreviationsChronology of Works by Edith WhartonPrimary Works Cited: AbbreviationsA Note on Edith Wharton's Letters to Morton FullertonNotesIndex