num_pages: 87
description: When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as `a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action'. She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path. But that way leads to disillusionment and a future as constricted as `a dark narrow alley with a dead wall at the end'. In a conclusion that is one of the most moving in modern fiction, Isabel makes her final choice. The Portrait of a Lady is the masterpiece of James's middle period, and Isabel is perhaps his most engaging central character. This edition provides a challenging new introduction and detailed notes; the text is that of the New York Edition and includes Henry James's own Preface.
language: English
title: The Portrait of a Lady
titlecomplete: The Portrait of a Lady
characters: Edward Rosier, Caspar Goodwood, Madame Merle, Lord Warburton, Lydia Touchett, Henrietta Stackpole, Gilbert Osmond, Pansy Osmond, Ralph Touchett, Isabel Archer
genres: Fiction, American, Classic Literature, Literature, Romance, Classics, Novels, 19th Century, Historical Fiction, Victorian
ratings_count: 79296
places: England, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, Italy
publisher: Chelsea House Pub