Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, first published in 1911 by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York The anonymous narrator of the story, a young engineer, meets the titular character, Ethan Frome, when he comes to work near Starkville, Massachusetts. He took him for 'an old man' although in reality Frome was 'not more than fifty-two'. The narrator hears intriguing fragments of the man's life, particularly references to the "smash-up", but it isn't until snow forces him to spend a night with Frome and his family, that he discovers their secret. In this novella, Wharton skillfully builds up a picture of Frome's isolated life. As a young man he had left the family farm to study at a technological college, but was called back when his father became ill. After his father's death, he stayed at home to tend his mother who 'got queer and dragged along for years as weak as a baby'. He then married Zeena, an older cousin who had helped nurse his mothe...