Dec 27, 2009

The Ambassadors | What Do I Read Next?

One of James' most popular novels was the story of Isabel Archer, Portrait of a Lady (1881). Isabel, James' model of the "American Girl," travels to Europe where she declines marriage proposals from two honest men. Instead, she falls for Gilbert Osmond and, in doing so, she might just suffer enough to see the ghost of Garden-court.

Another of James' novels that explores the theme of naïve Americans colliding with sophisticated Europeans is The Wings of a Dove (1902). At the beginning of the novel, Kate...