Author:Edith Wharton
These brilliantly wrought, tragic novellas explore the repressed emotions and destructive passions of working-cass people far removed from the social milieu usually inhabited by Edith Wharton's characters.
Ethan Frome is one of Wharton's most famous works; it is a tightly constructed and almost unbearably heartbreaking story of forbidden love in a snowbound New England village. Summer, also set in rural New England, is often considered a companion to Ethan Frome - Wharton herself called it 'the hot Ethan' - in its portrayal of a young woman's sexual and social awakening. Bunner Sisters takes place in the narrow, dusty streets of late-nineteenth-century New York, where the constrained but peaceful lives of two spinster shopkeepers are shattered when they meet a man who becomes the unworthy focus of all their pent-up hopes.
All three of these novellas feature realistic and haunting characters as vivid as any Wharton ever conjured, and together they provide a superb introduction to the shorter fiction of one of America's greatest writers.
Brilliant ... a panorama of a remarkable talent ... McCullers's finest stories
—— The New York TimesUnexpectedly moving, grimly amusing, intensely atmospheric
—— The TimesThe greatest prose writer that the South produced ... She has examined the heart of man with an understanding that no other writer can hope to surpass
—— Tennessee WilliamsOf all the Southern writers, she is the most apt to endure
—— Gore VidalAlmost unbearably moving
—— Terry Eagleton, on ‘Dirty Weekend’Brilliant . . . a jolt of thought electrifying the clogged tissue of the human heart
—— Alex Linklater, on ‘Radiant Heat’Stunning
—— David Goodhart, on ‘Sacred Heart’ , ProspectEtgar Keret is the voice of young Israel
—— IndependentOne of the greatest short story writers alive
—— Ben RiceOne of the most important writers alive... enchantingly witty
—— Clive JamesEtgar Keret's extraordinary imagination sets the reader free from slogans and headlines
—— Linda Grant