STRETHER'S BOY

Man Booker Prize Winner John Banville praised Berkman's last two novels in TheAmbassadors Trilogy. For this prequel:In Strether's Boy a prequel to Henry James's The Ambassadors Berkman has writtenanother wonderful volume in his Ambassadorial trilogy inventive intricate andwholly persuasive. The Master would surely bestow his blessing on the venture.For the sequel Banville says:I'm greatly enjoying and admiring [this sequel]...I very like the fluent fluid styleand the intricacies of plotting of The Product of Woollett - a sly witty title by theway. I'm particularly charmed by the way [it] manoeuvres [sic] James's tale and hischaracters into an aesthetically pleasing sequel to The Ambassadors...congratulations.Gregory Maguire author of Wicked says of the second novel in Berkman's TheAmbassadors Trilogy called In the Presence of Chad Himself:...an amazing job...perfectly in charge of the narrative...it is succeeding wildly...and I'm delighted to [say] how much I enjoyed it.Strether's Boy is the first part of a trilogy inspired by Henry James's The Ambassadors.After this prequel comes In the Presence of Chad Himself as the paraquel (sametime plot and characters as the original James novel but with a different narrativepoint of view like Wicked is to The Wizard of Oz); and finally comes The Productof Woollett as the sequel to The Ambassadors.