Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas, and essays from the world’s greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.

In these elegant and devastating tales of deception, desire, and social intrigue, Edith Wharton exposes the brittle veneer of civility that masks human ambition and longing. From the sunlit terraces of Rome to the drawing rooms of New York, Wharton’s characters navigate a world bound by class and convention yet charged with emotional undercurrents they barely understand. In “Roman Fever,” two middle-aged women confront the unspoken rivalries that have shadowed their friendship for decades; in “Mrs. Manstey’s View,” a lonely widow’s cherished glimpse of life beyond her window becomes the stage for a quiet tragedy; and in “After Holbein,” the elaborate pretenses of two aging New Yorkers reveal the haunting persistence of vanity and illusion. These Wharton works are the latest to join the Little Clothbound Classic series designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.