Ethan Frome
First published 1911 · English · 178 pages
- Novels
- Love and romance
- Young adult
A short novel set in the bleak winter landscape of a fictional Massachusetts village, Starkfield. A visiting narrator becomes curious about Ethan Frome, a silent, physically marked local man, and pieces together his story. Ethan is a poor farmer bound to a sour, ailing wife, Zeena, and drawn to her young cousin Mattie, who comes to help in the house. Wharton uses the harsh setting and a spare, controlled style to explore loneliness, duty and thwarted hope. It is among her most compact and widely read works.
Quotes
I want to put my hand out and touch you. I want to do for you and care for you. I want to be there when you're sick and when you're lonesome.
There was in him a slumbering spark of sociability which the long Starkfield winters had not yet extinguished.
Guess he's been in Starkfield too many winters. Most of the smart ones get away.