The Portrait of a Lady
by Henry James(1881)
Novelc. 550 pages
“Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
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One great work, every day
by Henry James(1881)
“Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
Henry James(1881)
Isabel Archer, young American heiress, comes to Europe seeking freedom and finds herself trapped by the very liberty she sought. James spent years developing Isabel, and her awakening to her mistake is one of the great scenes in fiction: sitting before the dying fire, she understands at last. The prose is intricate, the social observation precise, the moral stakes high. Europe corrupts and refines; America blunders and aspires. Isabel has been offered the world. She chooses wrongly. Whether she can escape is the novel's final question. The lady's portrait is complete. The frame cannot hold her.