What Maisie Knew
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Publisher Description
What Maisie Knew is a novel by Henry James, first published as a
serial in the Chap Book and (revised and abridged) in the New Review in 1897 and
then as a book later in the same year. The story of the sensitive daughter of
divorced and irresponsible parents, What Maisie Knew has great contemporary
relevance as an unflinching account of a wildly dysfunctional family. The book
is also a masterly technical achievement by James, as it follows the title
character from earliest childhood to precocious maturity.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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Young Maisie Farange finds herself the unwitting pawn in her parents' divorce, as her mother and father use her as a tool for personal attacks. As both parents find new romantic partners, Maisie, who is mature beyond her age, is thrust even further into an adult world of betrayal and sexual gamesmanship. In this audio edition, Maureen O'Brien delivers a standout performance of James's classic novella. Even for audiences who might not enjoy James's prose, O'Brien's narration is both gripping and suitably melancholy. She captures the boiling anger of the adult world, as well as Maisie's sadness and confusion. Maisie's relationship with her governess Mrs. Wix, the sole point of emotional consistency in the young girl's life, is particularly poignant, thanks to O'Brien's reading. Though there's relatively little dialogue in James's work most of the action takes place through narration, filtered through Maisie's point of view O'Brien excels at creating unique personalities for the different characters. Her Maisie, in particular, sounds like a child intelligent but also extremely vulnerable.
