From Library Journal
Like Chopin's work above, this also features period photos and a plastic jacket. The classics have become hot film properties, and the forthcoming feature film version of this book should bring readers into the library looking for the original.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Entertainment Weekly
... James's astute story of a plain heiress and the poor, handsome suitor who may or may not love her only for her wealth ... James credits the young woman from the start with nothing more Oscar-worthy than a certain dull ordinariness.


From AudioFile
James's classic tale of a plain but potentially wealthy girl caught between two manipulative men comes brilliantly to life in this well-abridged production. William Hope ably captures the cruel indifference of Catherine's father, the greedy charm of her suitor, Morris, and the unassertive but gradually steely tones of Catherine herself. Only after her father's death can she summon the inner strength to cast off the one man who has touched her romantically. As a period piece and an absorbing story, this is--and has always been--a winner. Among other abridged titles in the HighBridge Classics series: VANITY FAIR, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY and James's PORTRAIT OF A LADY. J.B.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
?Henry James is as solitary in the history of the novel as Shakespeare is in the history of poetry.? ?Graham Greene


Book Description
The shy and sweet daughter of a well-to-do physician, Catherine Sloper seems destined for lifelong spinsterhood until the sudden appearance of a dashing suitor who proposes marriage. Her adored father suspects the would-be fiance of fortune-hunting and threatens her with disinheritance, forcing Catherine to choose between lover and father. Setting his novel in New York City of the 1840s, James masterfully explores the moral consequences of a tender heart’s ruthless manipulation.



Download Description
Inspired by a story Henry James heard at a dinner party, Washington Square tells how the rakish but idle Morris Townsend tries to win the heart of heiress Catherine Sloper against the objections of her father. Precise and understated, the book endures as a matchless social study of New York in the mid-nineteenth century.


The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Short novel by Henry James, published in 1880 and praised for its depiction of the complicated relationship between a stubborn father and his daughter. The novel's main character, Catherine Sloper, lives with her widowed aunt and her physician father in New York City's fashionable Washington Square district. A plain, rather stolid young woman, Catherine is a disappointment to her father. She is courted by Morris Townsend, who is interested only in her potential inheritance. When her father threatens to disinherit her if she marries the fortune hunter, Townsend abandons her. Many years later, after her father's death, Townsend reappears and attempts to renew his suit. Catherine rejects him and lives on as a confirmed spinster in her Washington Square house.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Washington Square (1881), by Henry James, tells the story of Catherine Sloper, the plain, obedient daughter of the widowed, well-to-do Dr. August Sloper of Washington Square. When a handsome, feckless man-about-town proposes to Catherine, her father forbids the marriage because he believes the man to be after Catherine's fortune and future inheritance. The conflict between father, daughter, and suitor provokes consequences in the lives of all three that make this story one of James's most piercingly memorable.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

The classics have become hot film properties, and the forthcoming feature film version of this book should bring readers into the library looking for the original.

AudioFile - Yuri Rasovsky

One of James￯﾿ﾽs more accessible novels, Washington Square tells of an American heiress whose martinet father frowns upon her one and only suitor. Here we can enjoy the subtle psychology and nuanced phrasing that later grew so complex as to baffle the casual reader. And enjoy it we do in John McDonough￯﾿ﾽs sensitive interpretation. He perfectly captures the author￯﾿ﾽs patrician manner, reading in appropriately measured tones that deliver every shade of subtext. As this is one of the first psychological novels, the heroine￯﾿ﾽs personality is of paramount importance; McDonough￯﾿ﾽs impersonation admirably captures her transition from shy insecurity to confirmed spinsterhood. Thanks to McDonough, the tape is an excellent introduction to a great American author. Y.R. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Henry James is as solitary in the history of the novel as Shakespeare is in the history of poetry. — Jonathan Lyons