Book summary

Henry James's only major work set in America, this novel pits Olive Chanceller, a strong-willed women's suffragist, against Basil Ransom, a romantic, reactionary Southern lawyer, for the soul of a charismatic young woman named Verena Tarrant. Basil prevails in the end, leaving Olive humiliated, but the question remains open as to whether or not Basil and Verena are destined for happiness together. James's depiction of the New England suffragist movement, as well as his portraits of the three protagonists, are among his most brilliantly subtle and insightful accomplishments.

Media reviews

"His book begins, as we have said, with a remarkable piece of writing, but by and by he falls into a manner which could only have been caught from the Tarrants. His own manner has a trick of being almost too familiar, with its elisions and its easy-going phrases....It is when we stop and take the book as a whole that we forget how fine the web is spun, and remember only the strong conception which underlies the book; the freshness of the material used; the amazing cleverness of separate passages; the consummate success shown in so dangerous a scene as the death of Miss Birdseye, where the reticence of art is splendidly displayed; and, in fine, the prodigal wealth scattered through all the pages. There is sorry waste, and one's last thought about the work is a somewhat melancholy one, but we all have a lurking affection for prodigals."