Ethan FromePerhaps the best-known and most popular of Edith Wharton's novels, Ethan Frome is widely considered her masterpiece. Set against a bleak New England background, the novel tells of Frome, his ailing wife Zeena and her companion Mattie Silver, superbly delineating the characters of each as they are drawn relentlessly into a deep-rooted domestic struggle. Burdened by poverty and spiritually dulled by a loveless marriage to an older woman. Frome is emotionally stirred by the arrival of a youthful cousin who is employed as household help. Mattie's presence not only brightens a gloomy house but stirs long-dormant feelings in Ethan. Their growing love for one another, discovered by an embittered wife, presages an ending to this grim tale that is both shocking and savagely ironic. |
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ain't Andrew Hale answered Anton Chekhov Arthur Conan Doyle asked available in Europe Available in U.S. began Bettsbridge chair cheek church cold Corbury road dark Denis Eady door drew drove Edith Wharton Ethan felt Ethan Frome Europe or United eyes face farm fathers feel Flats Fyodor Dostoyevsky guess hair hand Harmon Gow head heard Henrik Ibsen hill horse hung Jack London Jane Austen Jotham Powell kitchen knew laughed lifted light lips Luigi Pirandello married Matt Mattie Silver morning mother never night old sorrel Oscar Wilde paused seat seemed sense Shadds Falls SHORT STORIES side silence sleigh slope snow sorrel stairs Starkfield step stood stooped stove suddenly supper tell there's things thought tone took turned United Kingdom village voice wait walked wife William Shakespeare window winter wonder wood-lot words Zeena Zenobia