Ethan Frome is a limping, quiet old man, a local fixture of the community, and a lifelong resident of the town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. When an unnamed narrator comes to spend a winter in Starkfield, he is curious to learn more about Frome. He learns that Frome’s limp arose from having been injured in a ‘smash-up’ twenty-four years before, but further details are not forthcoming. He also finds out that Frome’s attempt at higher education decades before was thwarted by the sudden illness of his father following an injury, forcing his return to the farm to assist his parents, never to leave again. Because people seem not to wish to speak other than in vague and general terms about Frome’s past, the narrator’s curiosity grows. Chance circumstances arise that allow the narrator to hire Frome as his driver for a week. A severe snowstorm during one of their journeys forces Frome to allow the narrator to shelter at his home one night, and he digs a little deeper in the past.
About the author
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. The Age of Innocence won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for literature, making Wharton the first woman to win the award. Many of Wharton’s novels are characterized by a subtle use of dramatic irony. Having grown up in upper-class pre-World War I society, Wharton became one of its most astute critics, in such works as The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence. In addition to writing several respected novels, Wharton produced a wealth of short stories and is particularly well regarded for her ghost stories.
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