Behind the Frieze

Ellis Wren

Willa is given a summer on the lake: a house that has stood empty for four years, a baby she cannot hold for more than a few minutes, and a husband who is certain there is nothing wrong with her. Hollis is a doctor, and kind, and he puts a sleep ring on her finger that reports her nights to his phone. Forbidden to work or write, she is left alone with a room whose paper she cannot stop reading — a pattern obeying none of the four rules she was trained on, and hiding a woman behind the bars. Della keeps the house, Nita keeps the baby, and nobody will sit in the chairs that face the north wall. A novel about what it costs to be cared for.

Adapted from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story The Yellow Wallpaper (1892). Published by TalesReborn.