Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, discussed.

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, discussed.

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, discussed.

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May 10 2007 1:43 PM

The Audio Book Club on Edith Wharton

Our critics revisit The House of Mirth. 

To listen to the Slate Audio Book Club on Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, click the arrow on the player below.

You can also download the audio file here, or click here to subscribe to the Slate Audio Book Club feed in iTunes.

This month, Slate'sAudio Book Club revisits a true classic: Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Stephen Metcalf, Meghan O'Rourke, and Katie Roiphe discuss the story of Lily Bart, a young woman searching for a suitable husband and trying to find her way in the high society of Gilded-Age New York. They also touch on Hermione Lee's major new biography of Wharton—putting the novel into the context of the author's life and times.

And for our next selection, the book club is following Oprah's lead in picking Cormac McCarthy's The Road.It's a novel about a man and his son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that seems to offer no hope of a better future. A lyrically written quick read, it's both harrowing and surprisingly tender. Click here to read Jennifer Egan's review of The Road for Slate.

We'll post the podcast about The Road on Thursday, May 31, 2007.

Blake Wilson is a Slate contributor and former Slate editor.