Edith Wharton was born in New York City on January 24, 1862. Her and her husband, Teddy, lived a life of relative ease with homes in New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Edith became a prolific writer and produced over 40 books in 40 years. She was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Yale University, and a full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Edith continued to write until a stroke took her life in August 1937.