First published 1987
In the frozen landscape of western Massachusetts, Ethan Frome is trapped. A farmer bound by poverty and family obligation, he lives a life of quiet desperation with his hypochondriac wife Zeena. When her young cousin Mattie Silver arrives to help, Ethan discovers a spark of hope and passion that threatens to consume everything he knows. Their forbidden attraction builds with dangerous intensity, promising both liberation and potential destruction. As winter's brutal landscape mirrors their emotional constraints, Ethan must choose between duty and desire—knowing that any decision could shatter the fragile world he inhabits.
Genres: fiction, classics, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: forbidden-love, tragic-romance
Setting: New York
Period: 1870s
336 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Bantam Classics