The Custom of the Country (Bantam Classics)First published in 1913, Edith Whartons The Custom of the Country is a scathing novel of ambition featuring one of the most ruthless heroines in literature. Undine Spragg is as unscrupulous as she is magnetically beautiful. Her rise to the top of New Yorks high society from the nouveau riche provides a provocative commentary on the upwardly mobile and the aspirations that eventually cause their ruin. One of Whartons most acclaimed works, The Custom of