Presents food scenes excerpted from twenty-five classic novels and stories including Jane Austen's "Emma" and Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," and provides commentary and original recipes that complement the text.

Set in New England, a farmer struggles to survive a bare existence, tethered to his farm, first by his helpless parents and then by a hypochondriac wife. Yet, when his wife's alluring cousin comes to stay, his dreams are rekindled

THE STORY: As told by Gabriel in the New York Journal-American, the play concerns farmer Ethan Frome, his complaining wife Zenobia, and her young kinswoman and house-drudge Mattie Silver. And of Ethan's and Mattie's awkward, hide-bound passion in

A New England farmer must choose between his duty to care for his invalid wife and his love for her cousin

**** Reprint of the Oxford U. Press edition of 1977 (which is cited in BCL3. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Smart, sublime, and wickedly clever, The Smash-Up captures—then transcends—our current polarized moment “An exhilarating ride . . . hilarious . . . a modern and energetic story about a marriage on the skids.”—The New York Times Ethan has always been one of the good guys, and for years, nobody has appreciated this fact more than his wife, Zo. Until now. Jolted into activism by the 2016 election, Zo’s transformed their home into the headquarters for the local resistance, turning their comfortable decades-long marriage inside-out. Meanwhile, their boisterous daughter, Alex, grows wilder by the day. Ethan’s former business partner needs help saving the media company they’d co-founded. Financial disaster looms. Enter a breezy, blue-haired millennial making her way through the gig economy. Suddenly Ethan faces a choice unlike any he’s ever had to make. Unfolding over fivet urbulent days in 2018, The Smash-Up wrestles shrewdly with some of the biggest questions of our time: What, exactly, does it mean to be a good guy? What will it take for men to break the “bro code”? How does the world respond when a woman demands more? Can we ever understand another's experiences… and what are the consequences of failing to try? Moving, funny, and cathartic, this portrait of a marriage—and a nation—under strain is, ultimately, a magic trick of empathy, one that will make you laugh and squirm until its final, breathless pages.