The House of Mirth Book One Chapter 01

In which Miss Lily Bart, momentarily stranded in the teeming heart of New York, encounters the thoughtful Lawrence Selden and accepts his invitation to tea, revealing a delicate dance of social expectations and private yearnings beneath her vivacious exterior. Their shared conversation, woven with gentle irony and unspoken hopes, paints a portrait of a young woman caught between the demands of society and the elusive promise of personal freedom.