on this page, for example http://openlibrary.org/works/OL98587W/The_house_of_mirth, the “About the Book” paragraph is what I was looking for. The text is:
Beautiful, intelligent, and hopelessly addicted to luxury, Lily Bart is the heroine of this Wharton masterpiece. But it is her very taste and moral sensibility that render her unfit for survival in this world.
