Heart attack at Pavillon Colombe

In June 1937, Edith Wharton suffered a serious heart attack at Pavillon Colombe, her country home in Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, near Paris, France. By this point in her life, Wharton, then 75 years old, had settled permanently in France, dividing her time between Pavillon Colombe and Sainte-Claire du Vieux Château in Hyères on the French Riviera.

The heart attack marked a serious decline in her health and foreshadowed the stroke that would end her life just two months later, in August 1937. Despite her declining health, Wharton had remained active in her final years, continuing to write and maintaining correspondence with a wide circle of literary and social friends, including Henry James (until his death in 1916) and numerous other prominent literary figures of the era.

This event is documented as part of the final chapter of Wharton's remarkable life, which spanned the Gilded Age of old New York through the modernist upheavals of the early twentieth century and two World Wars. Her determination to continue working despite failing health reflects the same disciplined literary dedication that had defined her decades-long career, during which she produced over 40 books, including novels, short story collections, poetry, and works of design and travel writing.