Mrs Osmond

2017 | Fiction & Poetry

'What was freedom, she thought, other than the right to exercise one's choices?' Isabel Osmond, a spirited, intelligent young heiress, travels to London to be with her beloved cousin Ralph on his deathbed. After a sombre, silent existence at her husband's Roman palazzo, Isabel's daring departure to London reawakens her youthful quest for freedom and independence, as old suitors resurface and loyal friends remind her of happier times. Eventually, Isabel must decide whether to return to Rome to face up to the web of deceit in which she has become entangled, or to strike out on her own once more. A sequel to Henry James's Victorian masterpiece The Portrait of a Lady, this is a vivid and intensely poignant novel about a wholly modern woman.

John Banville (Author)