(Newser)
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Edith Wharton's masterpieces include The House of Mirth, but the story of her own house is much less joyous. Her estate in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, currently a museum called the Mount that chronicles her life and career, is drowning under some $9 million in debt. Now, writes the Berkshire Eagle, a bank has warned it will foreclose on the property and sell it to the highest bidder.
The prognosis is grim: The Edith Wharton Restoration operates at a $1 million loss, and—not unlike some of the novelist's own heroines—had kept its financial woes quiet until recently. One philanthropist has promised a $3 million matching gift, but unless they can drum up more support, says the estate's president, "We're not going to make it."
