Henry James led a wandering life, which took him far from his native shores, but
he continued to think of New York City, where his family had settled for severa
l years during his childhood, as his hometown. Here Colm Toibin, the author of t
he Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel "The Master," a portrait of Henry James, b
rings together for the first time all the stories that James set in New York Cit
y. Written over the course of James's career and ranging from the deliciously ta
rt comedy of the early "An International Episode" to the surreal and haunted cor
ridors of "The Jolly Corner," and including "Washington Square," the poignant no
vella considered by many (though not, as it happens, by the author himself) to b
e one of James's finest achievements, the nine fictions gathered here reflect Ja
mes's varied talents and interests as well as the deep and abiding preoccupation
s of his imagination. And throughout the book, as Toibin's fascinating introduct
ion demonstrates, we see James struggling to make sense of a city in whose rapid
ly changing outlines he discerned both much that he remembered and held dear as
well as everything about America and its future that he dreaded most.
