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StoryPDFThe Custom of the CountryEdith Wharton

The Custom of the Country

Edith Wharton

Complete text
NovelEnglish

Undine Spragg arrives in New York eager to enter a more fashionable social world than the one her parents know. Invitations, clothes and marriage seem to offer routes upward, but each new circle brings expectations that reshape what she considers desirable.

47 sections139,984 wordsAbout 10 h 36 min
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About The Custom of the Country

Social ambition is examined through transactions that polite society prefers to describe as taste or feeling. Undine learns the uses of appearances quickly, while other characters misjudge her through their own conventions. The narrative keeps economic arrangements visible beneath romantic language, asking who can afford the consequences of a fashionable choice.

Reading focus

Follow how Undine's desires change when entry into one social circle reveals the existence of another.

This reading edition contains 139,984 words in 47 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Edith Wharton. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

"Undine Spragg—how can you?" her mother wailed, raising a prematurely-wrinkled hand heavy with rings to defend the note which a languid "bell-boy" had just brought in.

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Contents

All sections
  1. I16 min
  2. II15 min
  3. III10 min
  4. IV21 min
  5. V17 min
  6. VI12 min
  7. VII13 min
  8. VIII12 min
  9. IX13 min
  10. X19 min
  11. XI18 min
  12. XII21 min
  13. XIII16 min
  14. XIV19 min
  15. XV20 min
  16. XVI16 min
  17. XVII15 min
  18. XVIII28 min
  19. XIX10 min
  20. XX22 min
  21. XXI25 min
  22. XXII11 min
  23. XXIII10 min
  24. XXIV18 min
  25. XXV10 min
  26. XXVI17 min
  27. XXVII10 min
  28. XXVIII9 min
  29. XXIX13 min
  30. XXX10 min
  31. XXXI9 min
  32. NEW YORK BEAUTY WEDS FRENCH NOBLEMAN MRS. UNDINE MARVELL CONFIDENT POPE WILL ANNUL PREVIOUS MARRIAGE MRS. MARVELL TALKS ABOUT HER CASE3 min
  33. XXXII10 min
  34. XXXIII8 min
  35. XXXIV8 min
  36. XXXV16 min
  37. XXXVI7 min
  38. XXXVII14 min
  39. XXXVIII17 min
  40. XXXIX14 min
  41. XL13 min
  42. XLI12 min
  43. XLII9 min
  44. XLIII11 min
  45. XLIV12 min
  46. XLV11 min
  47. XLVI21 min

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Is this the complete The Custom of the Country?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 47 sections and 139,984 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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