A major turning point in this work is when a cat breaks Aunt Philura's wedding gift, a glass pickle dish, which eventually prompts the ill-fated escape attempt of the title character with Mattie Silver.  
This novel was disparaged by Lionel Trilling as lacking in ethical or moral significance, though its author encourages readers to view it as a cautionary tale. A young woman in this work wearing a cherry-red fascinator is the secret subject of the protagonist's attention when that woman is dancing with Denis Eady, the son of an Irish grocer, who is deemed fit for a horse-whipping. A major turning point in this work is when a cat breaks Aunt Philura's wedding gift, a glass pickle dish, which eventually prompts the ill-fated escape attempt of the title character with Mattie Silver.  Set in snowy Starkfield, Massachusetts, FTP, name this Edith Wharton novella in which the title character is disabled in a sledding accident.
This novel was disparaged by Lionel Trilling as lacking in ethical or moral significance, though its author encourages readers to view it as a cautionary tale.
{Ethan Frome}  [too long!  -SJ]