num_pages: 672
description: When Isabel Archer, a young American with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as "a place of brightness," full of possibility. Rejecting suitors who offer her wealth and devotion, she follows her own path and finds it leads to a dark and constricted future. The Portrait of a Lady is the masterpiece of James's middle period, and Isabel is his most engaging central character. This edition provides a new introduction and notes, and includes Henry James's own Preface.
language: English
title: The Portrait of a Lady
titlecomplete: The Portrait of a Lady
characters: Pansy Osmond, Isabel Archer, Ralph Touchett, Madame Merle, Gilbert Osmond, Lord Warburton, Henrietta Stackpole, Lydia Touchett, Edward Rosier, Caspar Goodwood
genres: Fiction, 19th Century, Classics, Classic Literature, American, Historical Fiction, Romance, Literature, Victorian, Novels
ratings_count: 79296
places: Rome, England, Italy, Florence, Tuscany
publisher: Oxford University Press