What Maisie Knew: And the Pupil

A very modern story about aimless lives and messy marriages' Paul TherouxCaught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. James's portrait of a little girl who maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy of her warring parents is both thought-provoking and inspiring

“"Perfect."”

James' finest working of his preoccupation with the theme of innocence corrupted... James is the master of making what is not said the most important thing on the page -- Kate Atkinson
A brilliant social comedy seen wholly from a child’s point of view, this is a dazzling technical feat that, as always with James, deepens as it develops — like the life of the child herself. An exhilarating prelude to the great novels of his famous late phase -- Alan Hollinghurst New York Times
Contains some of his best comedy and some of his most melancholy insights...embodies everything that James excelled at in fiction -- Paul Theroux
Henry James is as solitary in the history of the novel as Shakespeare is in the history of poetry -- Graham Greene
Perfect -- F. R. Leavis

Henry James was born on 15 April 1843 in New York to a wealthy and intellectual family and as a youth travelled widely and studied in Europe. He briefly studied law at Harvard before he took up writing full-time. His first novel, Watch and Ward, was published in 1871 and many followed including Roderick Hudson (1875), Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Awkward Age (1899), The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904). He also wrote short stories, reviews, biographies, plays and travel books.After a brief period in Paris, James moved to London.He later settled in Rye in Sussex and became a British citizen in 1915. Henry James died on 28 February 1916.

INCLUDES THE STORY 'THE PUPIL' 'James's finest working of his preoccupation with the theme of innocence corrupted' Kate Atkinson Caught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. James's portrait of a little girl who maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy of her warring parents is both thought-provoking and inspiring. See also: Atonement

Caught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. Despite it all, Maisie maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy that surround her. Also included is "The Pupil," a short story centering on the experiences of a child in a dishonorable and uncaring family.

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