He is as solitary in the history of the novel as Shakespeare in the history of poetry.

Bron’s reading is alert with nuance. She alternates between energy and ennui as character or occasion dictates, voicing the characters lightly, in keeping with James’s strong narrative control. In so doing, she mirrors perfectly both James’s tense and ambiguous world as well as his masterful control of that world.”

James’ irony is far from being unkind; he sees too much he admires in the [American] ethos he criticizes to condemn it…This small book, written so early in James’ career, is a masterpiece of major quality.”

[The] reading by Lloyd James…is excellent here. He softens his voice for the German characters and gives the pompous, self-centered Eugenia a deep, sonorous murmur.”

'[One of] two handsome volumes in their Cambridge maroon cloth covers with gilt stamping on the binding and James’s familiar signature on the covers are crucial additions to the resources scholars will use for generations to study the greatest novelist of the modern period.' John Carlos Rowe, The Henry James Review

Narrator Adam Sims expertly guides the listener through the complex relationships Henry James sets up when European cousins Eugenia and Felix come to America to meet their relations. Sims’s soft cadence couples well with James’s prose, and his vocal characterizations distinguish the characters clearly. He captures the European brother and sister especially well. Felix’s delightful French accent and enthusiastic tone emphasize his apparent lightheartedness—he always sounds as if he is smiling. Eugenia’s slight accent and offhand way of speaking make her sound not only false but also somewhat sinister. Sims creates a contrast between the Europeans and the earnest American characters. He navigates prose and dialogue with apparent ease, and his narration makes for a well-paced experience of the novel. D.M.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine