This amply annotated edition of Wharton's 1911 classic novella includes textual notes and documents, including Wharton's preface, letters, reviews, and early short story, "Mrs. Manstey's View." It is accompanied by the editor's comprehensive introduction and a wide array of readings on topics central to the novella: tragedy, health and fitness, sex and marriage, and turn-of-the-century New England poverty and isolation. Of her twenty-five novels and...

Ethan Frome, a poor farmer in nineteenth-century Starkfield, Massachusetts, sets off a devastating chain of events when he falls in love with the vivacious Mattie, cousin of his sickly, demanding wife.