“Richly perceptive.”

“How did this nineteenth-century male writer create Isabel Archer, one of the
most intriguing women characters in all of literature, capturing her journey
from buoyant but naïve girl to wiser, more compassionate grown-up? Henry James
was an American-born genius, in love with Europe, and fascinated by the
interaction of the Old World (Europe) and the New (America). Where these
sensibilities clashed, James found drama, wisdom, tenderness. Few write about
the path from openhearted to slightly more seasoned than this master stylist.”

“This book isn’t about the disappointments that inhere in the traditional marriage plot. It’s about what a woman does when she begins to acknowledge her own complicity in the life she has chosen…Isabel shows us that our bad decisions do not end our story. They begin it.”

“The masterpiece of the first phase of James’s career…offers a shrewd appraisal of the American character and embodies the national myth of freedom and equality hedged with historical blindness and pride.”

“Isabel Archer…is an impressive figure, and one follows her in her free flight with so much admiration for her resolution and strong pinions that when she is caught in the meshes of Osmond’s net one’s indignation is moved, and a noble pity takes the place of frank admiration.”