Royall now live alone together in what’s known as the red house. Unusually for Edith Wharton (1862–1937), best known for her novels of patrician Gilded-Age New York like The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, this novella is set in a tiny New England town close to ‘the Mountain,’ from which Charity Royall has been brought down as a baby by lawyer Royall, as he is universally known, and his wife, who is dead before the story begins.Ĭharity and Mr. It’s unclear if she was speaking of the book’s setting in the summer season, Charity’s sexual awakening, or both. She called it the “hot Ethan ,” referring to her 1911 novella, Ethan Frome.

The slim novel was one of Wharton’s personal favorites. Each book includes discussion questions that help clarify and reinforce major themes and reading recommendations for further research.This analysis of Summer by Edith Wharton, a 1917 novella of the coming of age of Charity Royall, a small-town girl, is excerpted from Girls in Bloom: Coming of Age in the Mid-20th Century Woman’s Novel by Francis Booth, reprinted by permission. The story forcefully conveys Wharton’s abhorrence of society’s unbending standards of loyalty.Įnriched Classics enhance your engagement by introducing and explaining the historical and cultural significance of the work, the author’s personal history, and what impact this book had on subsequent scholarship. Ethan’s love for his young cousin leads to one day of explosive emotions with tragic consequences. But the social conventions of the day doom their love and their hopes. When her young cousin Mattie comes to stay on their New England farm, Frome falls in love with her. Although Frome seems ambitious and intelligent, Zeena holds him back. Frome and Zeena marry after she nurses his mother in her last illness. The main characters are Ethan Frome, his wife Zenobia, called Zeena, and her young cousin Mattie Silver.

Each book includes educational tools alongside the text, enabling students and readers alike to gain a deeper and more developed understanding of the writer and their work.Īn entrancing but sad story of a poverty-stricken Massachusetts farmer caught in a loveless marriage. Enriched Classics offer readers accessible editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and commentary.

Ethan frome by edith wharton