The Portrait of a Lady
Mass Market
Random House Publishing Group · Paperback · October 1, 1983
Capturing the grandeur of a gracious, splendid Europe of wealth and Old World sensibilities, this glorious, complex novel has become a touchstone for a great writer’s entire literary achievement.
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- Who it’s for
- James’s luminous prose makes a woman’s inner life and social pressures quietly absorbing.
- Themes
- A woman's developing consciousness, Intrigue and deception, Betrayal
- Genres
- The Classics, Victorian Romance, Gilded-Age Romance
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For younger readers: Da Vinci's Tiger, Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Capturing the grandeur of a gracious, splendid Europe of wealth and Old World sensibilities, this glorious, complex novel has become a touchstone for a great writer’s entire literary achievement. From the opening pages, when the high-spirited American girl Isabel Archer arrives at the English manor Gardencourt, James’s luminous, superbly crafted prose creates an atmosphere of intensity, expectation, and incomparable beauty.
Continue reading
Isabel, who has been taken abroad by an eccentric aunt to fulfill her potential, attracts the passions of a British aristocrat and a brash American, as well as the secret adoration of her invalid cousin, Ralph Touchett. But her vulnerability and innocence lead her not to love but to a fatal entrapment in intrigue, deception, and betrayal. This brilliant interior drama of the forming of a woman’s consciousness makes The Portrait of a Lady a masterpiece of James’s middle years.
Under the Surface
James’s luminous prose makes a woman’s inner life and social pressures quietly absorbing.
Come here for
- Old World elegance and finely wrought prose
- Love complicated by innocence and deception
Expect
- An intricate drama of a woman’s consciousness
- An atmosphere of expectation and beauty
Where it sits
| The Classics | 87% |
|---|---|
| Victorian Romance | 48% |
| Gilded-Age Romance | 33% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- The Classics
- Victorian Romance
- Historical Thrillers
- Authors
- Henry James
- Publisher
- Random House Publishing Group
- Published
- October 1, 1983
- Format
- Paperback
- Theme
- A woman's developing consciousness · Intrigue and deception · Betrayal
- Reading lane
- The Classics