A level 3 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Retold for Learners of English by Susan Kingsley.Life is always hard for the poor, in any place and at any time.

Ethan Frome is a farmer in Massachusetts. He works long hours every day, but his farm makes very little money.

His wife, Zeena, is a thin, grey woman, always complaining, and only interested in her own ill health.Then Mattie Silver, a young cousin, comes to live with the Fromes, to help Zeena and do the housework.

Her bright smile and laughing voice bring light and hope into the Fromes' house - and into Ethan's lonely life.But poverty is a prison from which few people escape . . .