In the Cage is an 1898 fictional book written by American-British novelist Henry James. Since the book is too short to be considered a full novel and too long to be considered a short story, and because the author chose to provide characterization only for his main protagonists, In the Cage is classified as a novella.

The story focuses on an unnamed lower-middle-class woman who works as a telegraphist at a post office in London. As she is in charge of sending telegrams, she often gets involved in the private lives of the upper-class residents, which is how she meets the young Captain Everard.

Despite being engaged to Mr. Mudge, a well-intentioned grocer, she finds herself being enamored with the pristine, well-spoken, and well-mannered Captain. In the end, after a series of interesting and revealing events, she realizes that hers and the Captain’s love was simply not meant to be, and finally decides to marry the kind and faithful Mr. Mudge.

The title is an interesting element of the book. The main protagonist is a hopeless romantic who works as a postal clerk and reads all of the lunch appointments, dinner dates, vacation schedules, and various affairs of her rich costumers, desperately wishing to be a part of the high society. She feels as if she’s trapped in a cage of monotony and uneventfulness, and she makes up stories about her costumers to amuse herself. Many critics have argued that the main protagonist is a semi auto-portrait of the author himself, mainly because of the similarities between the heroine’s and James’s deductive and story-telling abilities.

As James manages to describe the emotional and mental state of his characters in great detail, many consider In the Cage a psychological book as well. Thus, the author incorporates several socially and psychologically relevant themes such as pride, envy, self-control, acceptance, yearning, ambition, morality, intellect, superiority, love, lies, and infatuation.

In the Cage has received generally positive reviews, and, because of the similarities in the narrative and the imaginative nature of the main protagonists, the novella has often been compared to James’s 1898 horror novel, The Turn of the Screw.