Portrait of a Lady - Softcover

James, Henry

3.79

80,702 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0395051061 ISBN 13: 9780395051061

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin College Div, 1956

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Isabel Archer is an innocent American girl, newly arrived in England and determined to retain her independence and act with grace at all times. She turns away two suitors, but is finally captivated by the worthless Gilbert Osmond, and must then face the consequences of her choice.

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Review:

"Excellent and responsible editing of a crucial text in American literature." --E.N. Feltskog, University of Wisconsin

From the Publisher:

Isabel Archer has been brought to England from Albany, New York, by her Aunt Touchett to extend her education, possibly to marry well.

Isabel, proud and independent, has other ideas. She has no desire to marry and wishes to create her own future, rather than finding it as a wife. Consequently she refuses two very eligible suitors: Lord Warburton and Caspar Goodwood, who has followed her to Europe from America.

When her uncle Lord Touchett dies, leaving Isabel a fortune, he unwittingly does her a great disservice, for on a visit to Italy she is introduced by Madame Merle to Gilbert Osmond. Osmond is a charming but worthless dilettante who sees Isabel as a beautiful prize, a mother for his daughter Pansy, and a source of easily attained wealth. From his cruel cynicism comes Isabel's tragic disillusionment.

In his exquisitely crafted and deeply ironic novel, Henry James depicts the heart and soul of a young woman whose destiny is taken from her own hands.

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