"The Lost Phoebe" is a short story by Theodore Dreiser. Henry is so devastated by the death of his wife that cannot find peace, he finds himself constantly searching for her. He slowly yet inevitably descends into madness. Dreiser's vivid descriptions of the couple's happy days offer a sharp contrast to Henry's gloomy present. Set on a dilapidated Midwestern farm during the Big Depression, it as story about love, death, sanity and social inequality.