Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome is a tragedy set in the fictional, snowbound town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. It opens with an unnamed narrator spending a winter in Starkfield, who becomes fascinated by the broken, limping figure of Ethan Frome. Intrigued by the man’s taciturn nature and severe physical scars, the narrator slowly piecemeals the history of Ethan’s life from local townspeople, eventually staying overnight at the desolate Frome farm during a snowstorm, which allows him to reconstruct Ethan’s tragic past.
Twenty years earlier, a young and ambitious Ethan dreams of escaping Starkfield to become an engineer in a bustling city. However, his ambitions are repeatedly cut short by familial duty. After his father dies, Ethan’s mother falls gravely ill, leaving Ethan isolated on their bleak, unprofitable farm. To assist with his mother’s care, Ethan’s cousin, Zeena Pierce, arrives at the household, bringing conversation and domestic help into the quiet, gloomy home.
When Ethan’s mother dies in the dead of winter, Ethan is overwhelmed by fear of total solitude and a desperate dread of the harsh New England winter. Out of panic and somewhat misplaced gratitude, he marries Zeena. Almost immediately, the dynamic shifts; Zeena becomes a sickly, domineering patient, demanding constant medical attention and transforming into a silent, bitter presence that completely smothers Ethan’s hopes of ever leaving Starkfield.
Life at the farm changes with the arrival of Mattie Silver, Zeena’s young, orphaned cousin. Mattie comes to live with the Fromes to assist with domestic chores in exchange for room and board. Bright, cheerful, and full of life, Mattie brings warmth to the dark household. Ethan quickly falls deeply in love with her, finding in Mattie the intellectual companionship, emotional warmth, and appreciation for nature that Zeena has always denied him. (Married his cousin, now fancies his wife’s cousin? Okaayyy.)
As Ethan and Mattie’s affection for one another silently grows, Zeena becomes increasingly suspicious and resentful of their bond. Zeena announces that her declining health requires hiring a new, more efficient housemaid, meaning Mattie must be dismissed and sent away with virtually no money or prospects. Devastated, Ethan contemplates running away to the American West with Mattie, but must abandon the plan when he realizes he lacks the financial resources to support them both or leave Zeena provided for.
On the day of Mattie’s forced departure, Ethan insists on driving her to the train station himself, taking a deliberate detour to a local hillside where they used to watch people sled. Unable to bear the reality of their impending separation, they confess their love for one another. Desperate and seeing no viable future apart, Mattie proposes that they take a sled and crash at full speed into a large elm tree at the bottom of the hill so they can die together.
In a state of frenzy and grief, Ethan agrees, steering the sled down the slope toward the tree. The ending is in the final chapters (shocking, I know). Ethan Frome is really a novella and is a good gateway read to become an Edith Wharton fan.