Other editions of book Ethan Frome

In the bleak backwoods of New England, Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm, and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena's vivacious cousin Mattie enters their house as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she come to represent. In one of American fictions finest and most intense narratives, Edith Wharton moves this ill-starved trio toward their tragic destinies. The classic novel of despair, forbidden emotion, and sexual undercurrents Ethan Frome has become perhaps her most enduring and widely read book.

Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeenie. But when Zeenie's vivacious cousin enters their household as a "hired girl," Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent. In one of American fiction's finest and most intense narratives, Edith Wharton moves this ill-starred trio toward their tragic destinies. Included only in Perennial Bestsellers 6

Ethan Frome is set in the fictional New England town of Starkfield, where a visiting engineer tells the story of his encounter with Ethan Frome, a man with a history of thwarted dreams and desires. The accumulated longing of Frome ends in an ironic turn of events. His initial impressions are based on his observations of Frome going about his mundane tasks in Starkfield and something about him catches the eye and curiosity of the visitor, but no one in the town seems interested in revealing many details about the man or his history – or perhaps they are not able to.

"Ethan Frome" is considered by many to be one of Edith Wharton's greatest literary accomplishments. Set in rural New England, "Ethan Frome" is the story of its title character who marries Zenobia, a nagging hypochondriac of a woman, and finds himself trapped in an unfulfilling life. When Zenobia's young cousin Mattie Silver comes to live with them, Frome falls in love with her. Ethan Frome is the story of forbidden love and its tragic consequences.