I liked it very much, however, it did frustrate me not to know with whom she may have married of the characters if any. Darn!

This edition is incomplete. It ends at chapter 27 , about two-thirds of the way through and leaves you dangling. Horrors!

I thought I would never finish this book. It moves like a slug swimming in jello, and Henry James rivals Dickens for long-boring-wordy-run-on sentences (such as this one). Seriously when one sentence takes up seven lines on a full page on an iPad I'm feeling my subconscious screaming "shut up and get to the point already!" I prefer Dickens at any rate. Not sure I can drag my brain through another volume of the brilliance that is (supposedly) Isabel, the snappy Harriet, Lord Wimp-Whiny Walburton and the ummmm..deep? Osmond. Best character in the story is Mrs. Touchett who lets nothing bother her and can think for herself without a multitude of what ifs to stall her. Madame Merle makes me suspicious of her motives. She's not trustworthy, and I wish she had a smaller part in this novel, since she's mostly annoying. Maybe in volume 2 I'll find out just what she's really up to. Just don't know if I can take all the boredom to find out.

J Newall

James's flawless tale of American innocence undone by European worldliness remains a cracking good read. The worldly Madame Merle is suitably punished for her manipulation of Isabel Archer.