The first novel Wharton wrote was the last to be published. Written from 1876-1877 under the penname David Oliveri between the ages of 14 and 15, it was not published until 1977, forty years after her death.

Fast and Loose tells the sad story of Georgie Rivers, who marries a rich, older man instead of the young man she loves. Wharton concludes the book with a series of humorous mock reviews, one of which claimed she belonged to “a certain numerous class of harmless fanatics who, without a grain of literary talent or training, avail themselves of the freedom of the press to inundate a long suffering public with yellow-coloured volumes of twaddling romance.”

Written 1876-1877; published in 1977