Washington Square

Published in 1881, 'Washington Square' is one of Henry James' most famous novels. It is the story of Catherine, a rather plain, shy and apparently malleable young woman who appears entirely under the will of her rich father. When a handsome young man, Morris Townsend, pays court to Catherine her father suspects that money rather than love is at the root of his interest, and he forbids his daughter to marry. Thanks to James' unmatched ability to lead us deep into the minds of his characters, we watch Catherine discover her own intelligence and with it, the courage to defy her father. But, as in so many of James' stories, a cruel fate intervenes and the lives of the novel's participants are shaped in ways quite different to those they would have chosen for themselves.