Henry James

'Spring was already in the air, in the town; there was no rain but there was still less sun — one wondered what had become of it, on this side of the world — and the grey mildness, shading away into black at any pretext, appeared in itself a promise.' Henry James left America for England in 1876 and remained in his adopted country for the next three decades. Arriving in Liverpool, he made his way first to London, the 'dreadful, delightful city', which he would come to both love and hate. James revelled in the exoticism and immensity of all that was unknown to him and his writing spills over with youthful excitement, humour and vivid descriptions of the people, landscapes, towns and cities he encountered. In London, he marvelled at the architecture of Christopher Wren and the glamour of the Strand and observed with equal pleasure the seedier parts of the city, where gin shops glowed on the corners of dark alleys. He later set out to explore the English countryside: Chester, Warwick, Devon, Wells, Salisbury, Suffolk and Rye, where he eventually settled, bought Lamb House and wrote prolifically — producing some of his finest works, including What Maisie Knew, The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl and The Middle Years. First published in 1905, English Hours is one of Henry James' most loved works of travel and a now-classic portrait of England by one of the great masters of 19th century literature.

When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. Then she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Gilbert Osmond. Charming and cultivated, Osmond sees Isabel as a rich prize waiting to be taken. Beneath his veneer of civilized behaviour, Isabel discovers cruelty and a stifling darkness. In this portrait of a young woman affronting her destiny, Henry James created one of his most magnificent heroines, and a story of intense poignancy.

A young, inexperienced governess is charged with the care of Miles and Flora, two small children given into her charge by their uncle at his grand country house. «The Turn of the Screw» is probably the most famous, certainly the most eerily equivocal, of all ghostly tales. Is it a subtle, self-conscious exploration of the haunted house of Victorian culture, filled with echoes of sexual and social unease? Or is it simply 'the most hopelessly evil story of the son of a long line of military heroes who refuses to follow tradition, yet proves his bravery in a haunted room.

A young governess is sent off to a country house to take charge of two orphaned children. She finds a pleasant house and a comfortable housekeeper, while the children are beautiful and charming. But she soon begins to feel the presence of intense evil.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Money's a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet.' Isabel Archer is a beautiful, intelligent and independent young woman. Brought from America to England by her wealthy Aunt who seeks to further her education and find her niece a husband, Isabel is determined to shape her own future — one that does not necessarily entail becoming a wife. Isabel inherits a fortune when her rich uncle dies and feels even more inclined to turn down two eligible suitors on the basis that she is a woman of her own means. However, a trip to Italy heralds her downfall when she meets the charming Gilbert Osmond, a worthless, yet ambitious and scheming dilettante.

'One ought to choose something very deliberately, and be faithful to that.' Isabel Archer is a young, intelligent, and spirited American girl, determined to relish her first experience of Europe. She rejects two eligible suitors in her fervent commitment to liberty and independence, declaring that she will never marry. Thanks to the generosity of her devoted cousin Ralph, she is free to make her own choice about her destiny. Yet in the intoxicating worlds of Paris, Florence, and Rome, her fond illusions of self-reliance are twisted by the machinations of her friends and apparent allies. What had seemed to be a vista of infinite promise steadily closes around her and becomes instead a 'house of suffocation'. Considered by many one of the finest novels in the English language, this is Henry James's most poised achievement, written at the height of his fame in 1881. It is at once a dramatic Victorian tale of betrayal and a wholly modern psychological study of a woman caught in a web of relations she only comes to understand too late. This edition reproduces the revised New York Edition, with James's own Preface.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. Revered as one of the greatest ghost stories ever told, James's The Turn of the Screw is an eerie Victorian masterpiece. When an inexperienced governess goes to work at Bly, a country house in Essex to look after a young boy Miles and his sister Flora, all manner of strange events begin to occur. The governess begins to spot a ghostly man and woman around the grounds and is told by the housekeeper that they are the ghosts of the valet and the previous governess. It soon becomes clear that the children are inexplicably connected to these ghosts in some way and the young governess struggles to protect the children, although from exactly what, she is not sure.

Confronting a Bronzino portrait in an English country house, a young American heiress comes face to face with her own predicament. For Milly Theale, who seems to have the world before her and at her feet, is fatally ill. Eager for life, eager for love, she embarks on her European adventure, warming to the admiration of her new friends Kate Croy and Merton Densher. But Merton and Kate are secretly engaged, and come to see in this angel with a thumping bank account as a solution to their own problems. For the remarkable Kate, scheming, passionate, poetic, also wants to live... This edition of James's poignant and dramatic novel is based on the revised New York Edition. The cover pictures the Bronzino portrait which is the focus of the key scene in the book.

A spine-chilling tale of a young governess’s struggle to protect the children in her care from the ghosts of two previous servants. Simple hallucinations perhaps, or external representations of the woman’s inner torments? James’s 19th-century masterpiece of ambiguous narrative is the precursor of the modern psychological thriller.

A young woman comes to a big house to teach two young children. It's her first job and she wants to do it well. But she begins to see strange things the ghosts of dead people. Do the ghosts want the children?

Daisy Miller is a beautiful, rich American girl. She comes to Europe with her mother and brother to travel and see the sights. In Switzerland she meets Frederick Winterbourne, a young American who has lived in Europe most of his life. He is fascinated and perplexed by Daisy’s flirtatious and unconventional manners…

In the 1840s, a young woman is employed as governess to two children in an English country house. The children are beautiful and charming, and – for a while – the young woman thinks her position is both easy and pleasant. Then she begins to see the ghosts of the former governess Miss Jessel and the manservant Peter Quint...

A young woman comes to a big house to teach two young children. It's her first job and she wants to do it well. But she begins to see strange things the ghosts of dead people. Do the ghosts want the children?

When a handsome young man begins to court Catherine Sloper, she feels she is very lucky. She is a quiet, gentle girl, but neither beautiful nor clever; no one had ever admired her before, or come to the front parlour of her home in Washington Square to whisper soft words of love to her. But in New York in the 1840s young ladies are not free to marry where they please. Catherine must have her father's permission, and Dr Sloper is a rich man. One day Catherine will have a fortune of 30,000 dollars a year...

With an Introduction and Notes by Martin Scofield, University of Kent at Canterbury Henry James was arguably the greatest practitioner of what has been called the psychological ghost story. His stories explore the region which lies between the supernatural or straightforwardly marvellous and the darker areas of the human psyche. This edition includes all ten of his ghost stories, and as such is the fullest collection currently available. The stories range widely in tone and type. They include 'The Jolly Corner', a compelling story of psychological doubling; 'Owen Wingrave', which is also a subtle parable of military tradition; 'The Friends of the Friends', a strange story of uncanny love; and 'The Private Life', which finds a shrewd, high comedy in its ghostly theme. The volume also includes James's great novella The Turn of the Screw, perhaps the most ambiguous and disturbing ghost story ever written.

A masterpiece by the great American realist Henry James. Daisy Miller is the story of an innocent girl's love and recognition in a society where respectable behaviour counts for everything.

»Vintage Lies» is a limited edition gift pack which consists of beautifully designed separate volumes of «What Maisie Knew» by Henry James and Ian McEwan's million-copy selling bestseller «Atonement». «Vintage Lies» is just one of ten «Vintage Classic Twins» to collect. Each twin consists of two books: a specially designed limited edition of one modern classic title and one established classic work. The books in each pair have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination. «What Maisie Knew»: Caught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. James' portrait of a little girl who maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy of her warring parents is inspiring. «Atonement»: On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

Eugenia`s wit, guile and sophistication, and Felix`s debonair vivacity form an uneasy alliance with the Puritan morality and the frugal, domestic virtues of the Americans. A rich and delicately balanced comedy of manners, The Europeans weighs the values of the established order against those of New England society, but makes no simple judgements, only subtle contrasts and beautifully observed comparisons.

A masterpiece by the great American realist Henry James. Daisy Miller is the story of an innocent girl's love and recognition in a society where respectable behaviour counts for everything.

Isabel Archer – a young American woman – visits her uncle and his family in England. Her uncle dies and leaves her a large fortune. Isabel was always beautiful and charming: now, in addition, she is rich. The question is, whom will she marry? The English nobleman Lord Warburton? Her American suitor Casper Goodwood? Or the refined and sophisticated Gilbert Osmond, an American art collector living in Italy?

In The Portrait of a Lady Henry James tells the story of one of his most enchanting heroines, Isabel Archer, a young New York woman whose life is changed when she is visited by her aunt Mrs Touchett following the death of her father (her mother having died long before). Isabel is invited to accompany her aunt back to Europe, and fascinates everyone with her beauty, intelligence and vivacity. When she inherits money from her uncle this turns out to have unexpected and undesired consequences.

The Golden Bowl, Henry James' last completed novel, is a story of the union of European class and American money. American millionaire and widower Adam Verver lives with his daughter Maggie in Europe, where they spend their time collecting object d'art and enjoying each other's company. Maggie becomes engaged to the aristocratic but penniless Amerigo, ignorant of the fact that Amerigo had previously had an affair with her best friend Charlotte. Through the continuing machinations of Fanny Assingham, Maggie's father marries Charlotte, and the stage is set for the ensuing drama to unfold. With Maggie and her father spending a great deal of time together after both are married, it is not long before the spouses have rekindled their previous affair. It is the ugliness of deceit that wounds more than the adultery itself, and as the plot proceeds, we watch as the various characters gradually suspect, then become convinced of the truth.

The child of parents who divorce, remarry and then embark on adulterous affairs, Maisie Farange survives by her intelligence and spirit. For all its sombre theme of childhood innocence exposed to a corrupted adult world, this novel is one of James’s comic masterpieces. The outrageous behaviour of the characters on the seedy fringes of the English upper class is conveyed with wit and relish. The dual perspective of a sophisticated narrator richly appreciative of the absurdities of the adult sexual merry-go-round and the candid vision of Maisie, 'rebounding' from one parent to another like a 'shuttlecock', together create an 'associational magic'. Strangely, unexpectedly, from so much that is tawdry, comes a tale of moral energy and subtlety. James’s foresight was in understanding the modernity of his subject, which is even more relevant today in the twenty-first century.

»Washington Square» marks the culmination of James’s apprentice period as a novelist. With sharply focused attention upon just four principal characters, James provides an acute analysis of middle-class manners and behaviour in the New York of the 1870’s, a period of great change in the life of the city. This change is explored through the device of setting the novel's action during the 1840s, similarly a period of considerable turbulence as the United States experienced the onset of rapid commercial and industrial expansion. Through the relationships between Austin Sloper, a celebrated physician, and his sister Lavinia Penniman, his daughter Catherine, and Catherine's suitor, Morris Townsend, James observes the contemporary scene as a site of competing styles and performances where authentic expression cannot be articulated or is subject to suppression.