239) Edith Wharton

Edith Wharton (born Edith Newbold Jones, 1862 - 1937). American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper class New York "aristocracy" to realistically portray the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. She was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921 (with The Age of Innocence). She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

"Her relations gave rise to the phrase 'keeping up with the Joneses'; but that did nothing to help the aspirations of an un-pretty, unfashionably red-headed little girl who was born to be remarkable. Almost symbolically, Edith's red hair remained defiantly unfaded until her dying day."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/edith-wharton-a-magnificent-and-subtle-writer/

Portrait by Edward Harrison May

Portrait by Edward Harrison May