The House of Mirth
The central theme of "The House of Mirth" is essentially "the struggle between who we are and what society tells us we should be". Thus, it is considered by many to be as relevant today as it was in 1905. If its sole subject had been the excesses and lives of the rich and famous, by themselves, it is doubtful it would have remained popular for as long as it has. "The House of Mirth" continues to attract readers over a century after its first publication, possibly due to its timeless theme. That the life and death of Lily Bart matters to modern readers suggests that Wharton succeeded in her purpose: to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it."
List of Fables characters
Beast is considering making a new home for himself, his wife and their daughter in Flycatcher's kingdom in the Homelands, because Beauty will be safer there, as the "mundy" police keeps getting better and better at investigating and collecting evidence, and will catch Beauty sooner or later. The story's ending suggests that Beauty may be turning into Lamia again sometime in the near future. In the "Fairest" graphic novel "Fairest In All The Lands", Lamia is gone for good: Beauty becomes the victim of a serial killer, and even though Beauty is brought back to life, Lamia is not. Beast is ultimately killed by a feral, controlled resurrected Bigby Wolf. It remains to be seen if he will stay dead. In the final story, it reveals that years later, a grown up Bliss and Beauty have a business where they solve the problems of people (such as murders and kidnappings) using Bliss' beastly abilities.