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Ethan Frome
- Author
- Edith Wharton
- Narrator
- C. M. Hébert
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Publish Date
- 1 January 2006
- Run Time
- 3 hours 41 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Classic fiction
What to expect
Often regarded as Edith Wharton's finest achievement,Ethan Fromecontrasts sharply with her usual ironic contemplation of fashionable New York society. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England farmlands, this keenly-etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century village is a masterpiece of literary realism.
Ethan is a patient, rough-hewn man tormented by a passionate love for his sickly wife's young cousin, Mattie, who has come to offer her domestic services. Restricted by the bonds of marriage—however loveless it may be—and the fear of public condemnation, Ethan's desperate quest for happiness leads ultimately to pain and despair.
Ethan's story, with its tragic implications of what might have been, has held irresistible fascination for readers for over a century. The tale of a decent man's fall brought on by his finest feelings is a haunting study of the human conflict between desire and duty.
Critics Review
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“Wharton’s bleak New England masterpiece…[is] a compelling and haunting story.”
New York Times
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“Wharton’s characters leap out from the pages and…become very real. You know their hearts, souls and yearnings, and the price they pay for those yearnings.”
San Francisco Examiner
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“An innovative insight into incompatability and, as such, something of a breakthrough. Edith Wharton was in many ways ahead of her time…In Ethan Frome she made her mark as an atypical and uncompromising psychologist. It is in many ways her most fearless novel.”
Telegraph (London)
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Details
- Author
- Edith Wharton
- Narrator
- C. M. Hébert
- Duration
- 3 hours 41 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 January 2006
- ISBN
- 9781481540957
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Blackstone Publishing
- Genre
- Classic fiction
Synopsis
Often regarded as Edith Wharton's finest achievement,Ethan Fromecontrasts sharply with her usual ironic contemplation of fashionable New York society. Set in the bleak winter landscape of New England farmlands, this keenly-etched portrait of the simple inhabitants of a nineteenth-century village is a masterpiece of literary realism.Ethan is a patient, rough-hewn man tormented by a passionate love for his sickly wife's young cousin, Mattie, who has come to offer her domestic services. Restricted by the bonds of marriage—however loveless it may be—and the fear of public condemnation, Ethan's desperate quest for happiness leads ultimately to pain and despair.Ethan's story, with its tragic implications of what might have been, has held irresistible fascination for readers for over a century. The tale of a decent man's fall brought on by his finest feelings is a haunting study of the human conflict between desire and duty.
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