The Custom of the Country

In a culture dominated by men who refuse to take women seriously, excluding them from the real business of life, Undine Spragg strikes out to discover how far beauty and daring can carry her.

She uses her attractiveness like a blunt instrument and clubs her way up the social ladder with a series of increasingly advantageous marriages.

She is the small town girl made good, the rustic who outsmarts New York society and moves on to continental princelings. There seems to be no limit to her conquests, but happiness evades her. We can predict her fall, but are powerless to intervene.

"Brilliantly written. It should be read as a parable." (Saturday Review)