Ethan Frome

Perhaps the best-known and most popular of Edith Wharton's novels <i>Ethan Frome</i> 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.<br>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.