The Portrait of a Lady

Isabel Archer inherits enough money to choose her own life, and Henry James spends the novel examining what she does with that freedom. The story moves between England, Italy and the American expatriate circles in between, filling out a cast whose motives take a long time to become visible. James works through consciousness rather than incident, so the turning points are decisions and revelations, and the pleasure lies in watching a character read her situation too late. The shape of the book: • A long nineteenth-century novel of character and choice • European settings seen through American eyes • Psychological narration rather than plot-driven drama • Central themes of independence, money and marriage Suits patient readers of literary fiction, university courses and collectors of realist classics, available at Boipoka.