The Buccaneers

Praise for The Buccaneers

“Brave, lively, engaging…a fairy-tale novel, miraculouly returned to life.”—The New York Times Book Review

“The Buccaneers brilliantly showcases Wharton near the top of her form.”—Chicago Tribune

“Mainwaring has added gloss to the story’s original elegance and wit, and the novel emerges like a master’s painting from the hands of a highly skilled restorer.”—Leon Edel, author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Henry James: A Life

“Mainwaring’s version of The Buccaneers is a tour de force….[She] deserves high marks for her ingenuity, novelistic skill, and critical intelligence.”—USA Today

“A sense of unobtrusive accuracy of tone and detail prevails throughout Ms. Mainwaring’s [writing]….It’s hard to imagine a better writer equipped to take on Edith Wharton.”—The Wall Street Journal

Edith Wharton was born into the upper stratum of New York society in 1862. This background provided her with ample material for her novels but did not encourage her artistic growth. Educated by tutors and governesses, her upbringing was geared solely towards marriage. Her own marriage in 1885 to Edward Wharton proved to be an emotional disappointment.

In 1894, she experienced the first of several nervous breakdowns. Despite the strain of her marriage, or perhaps because of it, Wharton began writing fiction, publishing her first story in 1889. Her initial published work was a guide to interior decorating, but this was followed by several novels and story collections. These were written during a period when the Whartons lived in Newport and New York, traveled in Europe, and built their grand home, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts.

In Europe, she met Henry James, who became a close friend, traveling companion, and the most critical reader of her fiction. The House of Mirth (1905) achieved both critical acclaim and bestseller status, as did Ethan Frome (1911).

The Whartons divorced in 1913, and Edith took up permanent residence in France. However, her literary focus remained on America, particularly the wealthy New York society of her youth. Her satirical novel The Custom of the Country was published in 1913, and The Age of Innocence earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1921. In her later years, she garnered admiration from a new generation of writers, including Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In total, she authored approximately 30 books, including her autobiography, A Backward Glance (1934). She died at her villa near Paris in 1937.

Marion Mainwaring (1922-2015) was a scholar of Edith Wharton, best known for completing Wharton’s unfinished manuscript, The Buccaneers, in 1993. In addition to her research on Wharton, Mainwaring published original works, including the novels Murder in Pastiche: Or Nine Detectives All at Sea and Murder at Midyears, as well as a biography on Wharton’s lover, Mysteries of Paris: The Quest for Morton Fullerton.

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