July & August 2013 Academic & Specialist Other

Ethan Frome (1911) Edith Wharton, edited by Carol Singley

Ethan Frome (1911)
Edith Wharton, edited by Carol Singley


Of her twenty-five novels, Ethan Frome is the one of which Edith Wharton was most proud. In the novel, young Ethan Frome marries Zeena Pierce, who is seven years his senior, after she nurses Ethan’s mother through a terminal illness. When Zeena also turns sickly, she invites her cousin Mattie Silver to live in and help with household chores. Ethan and Mattie fall in love, and Zeena, aware of their attraction, decides to send Mattie away. A desperate Ethan cannot bear the thought of letting Mattie go, but neither can he escape with her. The couple decide upon a course of action designed to ensure that they remain together, but the plan falters and all three characters are left to suffer its nightmarish consequences.