Lionel Trilling deemed A Lost Lady "Cather's most explicit treatment of the passing of the old order" and "the central work in her career". It chronicles the life of Marian Forrester, a woman living an agonizing existence with her invalid husband, a once-powerful railroad builder. She longs for a life of culture, wealth, and sophistication, an existence that seems unattainable in the face of her husband's condition. Instead of turning her back on the petty bourgeois world of the present, Marian succumbs to its demands, taking refuge in the false comforts of alcohol and sexual abandon. She plays courtesan to an aggressive businessman and witnesses the corrupted activities and perils of the new generation. Narrated through the eyes of a young admirer, Niel Herbert, A Lost Lady demonstrates the passionate candor of Cather's greatest fiction.