The Golden Bowl (Complete)

Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except a husband and a title. While in Italy acquiring art for his museum back in the States Maggies millionaire father Adam decides to remedy this and acquire a husband for Maggie. Enter Prince Amerigo of a titled but now poor aristocratic Florentine family. Amerigo is the perfect candidate. Delighted Maggie then reciprocates by choosing a partner for her widower father: childhood friend Charlotte Stant. The stage is set and what unfolds is a deep and gripping exploration of fidelity and the politics of love and marriage. Published in 1904 The Golden Bowl displays Henry James at his finest: James weaves scene upon scene set piece upon set piece into a seamless whole through a richly dense tapestry of beautiful flowing prose. Along with The Ambassadors and The Wings of the Dove it constitutes James final and most rewarding phase as a novelist.