As long as men and women seek to use each other - and to use each other badly - Edith Wharton can be counted upon to provide the ideal commentary - Anita Brookner in her introduction Mr and Mrs Spragg are hoping to forge an entrée into society and arrange a suitably ambitious match for their only daughter. As she unfolds the story of Undine Spragg, from New York to Europe, Edith Wharton affords us a detailed glimpse of what might be called the interior décor of upper-class America and its nouveau riche fringes. Through a heroine who is as vain, spoilt and selfish as she is irresistibly fascinating, and through a most intricate and satisfying plot, she conveys a vision of social behaviour that is both supremely informed and supremely disenchanted. INTRODUCTION BY ANITA BROOKNER