Book description
After her parents' bitter divorce, young Maisie Farange finds herself
shuttled between her selfish mother and vain father, who value her only
as a means for provoking each other. And when both take lovers and
remarry, Maisie - solitary, observant and wise beyond her years - is
drawn into an increasingly entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual
betrayal, until she is finally compelled to choose her own future.
Published in 1897 when Henry James was becoming increasingly
experimental with narrative technique and fascinated by the idea of the
child's-eye view, What Maisie Knew is a subtle, intricate yet
devastating portrayal of an innocent adrift in a corrupt society.
Henry James was born in 1843 in Washington Place, New York. Attending
schools in New York, London, Paris and Geneva, he trained for Law at
Harvard in 1862. In 1875 he settled in Paris for a year, where he met
Flaubert, Turgenev and other literary figures. He moved in London the
following year, and remained in England for the rest of life, becoming
naturalized in 1915, a year before his death.
Paul Theroux was born in 1941. After a five-year stay in Africa, he
taught at the University of Singapore from 1968 to 1971. He was
written many novels, short stories, and travel books.
Patricia Crick, one-time Scholar of Girton College, Cambridge, is a
teacher of modern languages.
