Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton

"I had the sense that the deeper meaning of the story was in the gaps."

In the bleak, snow-covered landscape of Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan Frome is trapped in a joyless marriage to his sickly and bitter cousin Zeena. When Zeena's young cousin Mattie Silver arrives to help in the house, Ethan finds a glimpse of happiness and love. But their desperate attempt to escape their fate leads to a tragedy more enduring than death.

Edith Wharton's novella is a masterpiece of tragic irony. It is a stark, haunting portrayal of rural isolation and the crushing weight of duty and poverty on the human spirit.