Introduction: The alliance between artist and woman

The continuing contest in A backward glance

A safe forum: Edith Wharton's correspondence with Sara Norton

The context of women's relationships

The buried fables in Ethan Frome and Summer

Female partnerships in the business of living

Edith Warton's recompense

The self-made man, a grown-up woman, and the female artist

Conclusion: Wharton and her contemporaries, Cather, Austin, and Glasgow.