Never Won a Major Prize
Ethan Frome
by Edith Wharton
Summary
Trapped by poverty and a loveless marriage on a failing New England farm, Ethan Frome falls into a doomed attraction to his wife's vivacious young cousin Mattie Silver. Wharton sets aside her usual drawing room settings for a bleak, snowbound landscape, using the harsh winter itself to mirror the emotional freeze that keeps her characters locked in place. The novella's stark tragedy has made it a staple of American literature classrooms for generations.
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Historical Context & Significance
The book appeared seven years before the Pulitzer Prize for fiction began in 1918. Wharton later won that prize for The Age of Innocence, but Ethan Frome, published at the height of her powers, received no award at all.