A young lady arrives at a big country house to teach two children. Strange things start to happen. The children are very beautiful but are they as innocent as they seem? And how did the last governess die? A terrible story of ghosts and evil begins. Henry James (1843 - 1916) wrote this story in 1898. Many people think it's the best ghost story ever written.
Henry James' short novels provide an overview of his entire career and serve as an excellent introduction to his singular art and imagination. This collection includes The Turn of the Screw, Daisy Miller, The Beast in the Jungle, An International Episode, The Aspern Papers and The Altar of the Dead. Major course adoption potential.
The Wings of the Dove is a classic example of Henry Jamess morality tales that play off the naiveté of an American protagonist abroad. In early-20th-century London, Kate Croy and Merton Densher are engaged in a passionate, clandestine love affair. Croy is desperately in love with Densher, who has all the qualities of a potentially excellent husband: hes handsome, witty, and idealistic--the one thing he lacks is money, which ultimately renders him unsuitable as a mate. By chance, Croy befriends a young American heiress, Milly Theale. When Croy discovers that Theale suffers from a mysterious and fatal malady, she hatches a plan that can give all three characters something that they want--at a price. Croy and Densher plan to accompany the young woman to Venice where Densher, according to Croys design, will seduce the ailing heiress. The two hope that Theale will find love and happiness in her last days and--when she dies--will leave her fortune to Densher, so that he and Croy can live happily ever after. The scheme that at first develops as planned begins to founder when Theale discovers the pairs true motives shortly before her death. Densher struggles with unanticipated feelings of love for his new paramour, and his guilt may obstruct his ability to avail himself of Theales gift. James deftly navigates the complexities and irony of such moral treachery in this stirring novel.
