Publisher Description

New edition of this classic novel, edited by Philip Horne and Ruth YeazellThis story of the alliance between Italian aristocracy and American millionaires is "a work unique among all James's novels- it is his only novel in which things come out right for his characters ...he had finally resolved the questions, curious and passionate, that had kept him at his desk on his inquiries into the process of living. He could now make his peace with America-and he could now collect and unify the work of a lifetime." -Leon Edel in The Life of Henry James.Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, and her widowed father Adam, lead a life of wealth and refinement in London. They are both getting married- Maggie to Prince Amerigo, an impoverished Italian aristocrat, and Adam to the beautiful but penniless Charlotte Stant, a friend of his daughter. But both father and daughter are unaware that their new conquests share a secret - one for which all concerned must pay the price.

Notes

James's highly-charged study of adultery, jealousy and possession, now in a new Classics edition, edited by Philip Horne and Ruth Yeazell.

Back Cover

'So that you think ... that I had better get married just in order to be as I was before?' Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, and her widowed father Adam, a billionaire collector of objets d'art, lead a life of wealth and refinement in London. They are both getting married: Maggie to Prince Amerigo, an impoverished Italian aristocrat, and Adam to the beautiful but penniless Charlotte Stant, a friend of his daughter. But both father and daughter are unaware that their new conquests share a secret - one for which all concerned must pay the price. Henry James's late, great work is a highly charged study of adultery, jealousy and possession that both continues, and challenges, his theme of confrontation between American innocence and European experience. This new edition contains an introduction by Ruth Bernard Yeazell discussing James's original conception of the novel and later changes made to its structure and characters, and a note on the text. 'One of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written' A. N. Wilson 'A wonderfully luminous drama' Gore Vidal With a new introduction and notes by Ruth Bernard Yeazell

Author Biography

Henry James was born in 1843 in new York, with Scottish and Irish ancestry. Having studied in New York and Europe, he became a lawyer, and started writing in 1865. Spending time in Paris he knew Flaubert and Turgenev, before moving to London and then Sussex.Philip Horne is a Reader in English at UCL. He is author of the acclaimed Henry James- A Life in Letters and series editor for several of Penguin Classics' Henry James' novels.Ruth Yeazell is the Chase Professor of English at Yale University.

Review

'One of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written' - A. N. Wilson 'A wonderfully luminous drama' - Gore Vidal

Review Quote

'One of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written' - A. N. Wilson'A wonderfully luminous drama' - Gore Vidal

Promotional "Headline"

Henry James's late, great work is a highly charged study of adultery, jealousy and possession that both continues, and challenges, his theme of confrontation between American innocence and European experience.

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