Ethan Frome is a 1912 novel set in New England. It is a story of a doomed love triangle between Ethan Frome, his wife and their housekeeper. Given the social conventions of the time, Ethan Frome feels he must stay, trapped in a loveless marriage, rather than pursue his true feelings. The tension builds slowly to a dramatic and classically ironic ending in one of Wharton's best stories.