The House of Mirth [hardcover] Edith Wharton

A tale of a tub, Jonathan Swift’s first major and his most masterly work. It presents a satire of religious excess. When it was written, politics and religion were so closely linked in England, that the religious and political aspects of the satire could not be separated. The story revolves around the exploits of three sons, Peter, Martin and Jack, representing the main threads of Christianity, viz. Catholic, Anglican, and Puritan, respectively. They receive a bequest from their father, of a coat each, with instructions that no alterations whatsoever may be made in the coats. After some time, the sons find that their coats have fallen out of current fashion. They begin to look for loopholes in their father will so that they may make the alterations they want. Each son finds his own means of getting around their father admonition, and they struggle with each other for power and dominance.