Washington Square

Author  Henry James Introduction by  Martha Banta Edited by  Philip Horne and Martha Banta Notes by  Martha Banta
Washington Square

A masterful novel of New York society by a champion of literary realism

When timid and plain Catherine Sloper acquires a dashing and determined suitor, her father, convinced that the young man is nothing more than a fortune-hunter, decides to put a stop to their romance. Torn between her desire to win her father's love and approval and her passion for the first man who has ever declared his love for her, Catherine faces an agonising dilemma, and becomes all too aware of the restrictions that others seek to place on her freedom. James's masterly novel deftly interweaves the public and private faces of nineteenth-century New York society; it is also a deeply moving study of innocence destroyed.

For more than seventy…