<p>Isabel Archer, a beautiful, intelligent, and headstrong American girl newly endowed with wealth and embarked in Europe on a treacherous journey to self-knowledge, is delineated with a magnificence that is at once casual and tense with force and insight. The characters with whom she is entangled--the good man and the evil one, between whom she wavers, and the mysterious witchlike woman with whom she must do battle--are each rendered with a virtuosity that suggests dazzling imaginative powers. And the scene painting--in England and Italy--provides a continuous visual pleasure while always remaining crucial to the larger drama. <p/><i>The Portrait of a Lady</i> is the most stunning achievement of Henry James's early period--in the 1860s and '70s when he was transforming himself from a talented young American into a resident of Europe, a citizen of the world, and one of the greatest novelists of modern times. A kind of delight at the success of this transformation informs every page of this masterpiece.</p><br><br><b>Author:</b> Henry James<br><b>Publisher:</b> Everyman's Library<br><b>Published:</b> 11/26/1991<br><b>Pages:</b> 672<br><b>Binding Type:</b> Hardcover<br><b>Weight:</b> 1.45lbs<br><b>Size:</b> 8.31h x 5.40w x 1.50d<br><b>ISBN:</b> 9780679405627<br><br><b>Accelerated Reader:</b><br><b>Reading Level:</b> 9.6<br><b>Point Value:</b> 44<br><b>Interest Level:</b> Upper Grade<br><b>Quiz #/Name: </b>76006 / Portrait of a Lady<br><br><p><b>About the Author</b><br>Henry Ja