The Ambassadors

Lambert Strether, a middle-aged New Englander, is sent to Paris by his wealthy fiancée, Mrs. Newsome, to bring home her son Chad, who is thought to be wasting his life there. Strether expects to rescue a young man from a scandalous entanglement. Instead the beauty, freedom and richness of Parisian life begin to change his own view of what a life should be. The novel follows his slow, sensitive shifting of perception, with humour and melancholy. James himself thought it his best work, and it is a classic of the clash between American duty and European experience.