Mrs. Osmond

Resource Information

The work Mrs. Osmond represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

This resource has been enriched with EBSCO NoveList data.

Label

Mrs. Osmond

Statement of responsibility

John Banville

Creator

• trueBanville, John

Contributor

• trueJames, Henry, 1843-1916

Author

• trueBanville, John

Subject

• trueLiterary fiction
• true19th century -- 1801 -- 1900
• London (England) -- Fiction
• Young women -- Fiction
• trueHistorical fiction
• trueAmericans in Europe
• trueEurope -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
• trueMoney
• trueInheritance and succession
• trueMarried women
• trueIndependence in women
• trueAdaptations, retellings, and spin-offs
• Inheritance and succession -- Fiction
• Married women -- Fiction
• Married people -- Fiction
• trueFriendship
• Archer, Isabel (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
• Triangles (Interpersonal relations) -- Fiction
• trueVoyages and travels
• Americans -- Italy -- Fiction

Genre

• Fiction
• trueLiterary fiction
• trueAdaptations, retellings, and spin-offs
• trueHistorical fiction

Language

eng

Summary

"From the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea and The Blue Guitar -- a dazzling new novel that extends the story of Isabel Archer, the heroine of Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady, into unexpected (and completely stand-alone) territory. Isabel Archer is a young American woman, swept off to Europe in the late nineteenth century by an aunt who hopes to round out the impetuous but naive girl's experience of the world. When Isabel comes into a large, unexpected inheritance, she is finagled into a marriage with the charming, penniless, and -- as Isabel finds out too late -- cruel and deceitful Gilbert Osmond, whose connection to a certain Madame Merle is suspiciously intimate. On a trip to England to visit her cousin Ralph Touchett on his deathbed, Isabel is offered a chance to free herself from the marriage, but nonetheless chooses to return to Italy. Banville follows James's story line to this point, but Mrs. Osmond is thoroughly Banville's own: the narrative inventiveness; the lyrical precision and surprise of his language; the layers of emotional and psychological intensity; the subtle, dark humour. And when Isabel arrives in Italy -- along with someone else! -- the novel takes off in directions that James himself would be thrilled to follow"--

Storyline

• trueCharacter-driven

Pace

• trueLeisurely paced

Tone

• trueReflective

Writing style

• trueStylistically complex
• trueLyrical
• trueDescriptive
• trueWitty

Character

• trueIntrospective
• trueComplex

Award

New York Times Notable Book, 2017

Cataloging source

VHEI

Dewey number

823.914

Index

no index present

Literary form

fiction

Target audience

adult