Mrs Osmond
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A MASTERFUL TALE OF BETRAYAL AND CORRUPTION BY THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE SEA
'Banville is one of the writers I admire the most' Hanya Yanahigara, author of A Little Life
'A brilliant feat of literary ventriloquism' The Times
Having fled Rome and a stultifying marriage, Isabel Osmond is in London, brooding on the recent disclosure of her husband's shocking, years-long betrayal of her. What should she do now, and which way should she turn, in the emotional labyrinth where she has been trapped for so long? Reawakened by grief and the knowledge of having been grievously wronged, she determines to resume her youthful quest for freedom and independence.
Soon Isabel must return to Italy and confront her husband, and seek to break his powerful hold on her. But will she succeed in outwitting him, and securing her revenge?
Mrs Osmond is a masterly novel of betrayal, corruption and moral ambiguity, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea.
'A worthy sequel ... His book is not only an impressive recreation of James's atmospheres and pacing, but also full of minor cliff-hangers and page-turning suspenses that keep you guessing' Observer
'John Banville is one of the best novelists in English, and an expert ventriloquist, among other things ... Mrs Osmond is both a remarkable novel in its own right and a superb pastiche' Guardian
'John Banville is simply the finest writer at work today, a prolific prose stylist whose work has only deepened in quality throughout his career' John Boyne
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Banville's sequel to Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady is a delightful tour de force that channels James with ease. The rich and measured prose style is quintessentially Jamesian: the long interior monologues perfectly capture the hum of human consciousness, and the characters are alive with psychological nuance. Readers join James's heroine where his classic left her; Banville's Isabel Archer Osmond is now a sedate, proper matron, who bitterly rues her marriage to deceitful Gilbert Osmond. She retains her high-minded principles, however, and has determined to live with her guilt at having ignored the advice she had received against marrying him. Gilbert is a cruel, arrogant man who condescends to Isabel in cutting language, lives off her fortune, and demands her complete loyalty. Having defied Gilbert when he forbade her to leave their home in Rome to hurry to her dying cousin's bedside in England, Isabel feels the first stirrings of freedom. Almost capriciously, she withdraws a large amount of money from the bank in the hopes of having it free to spend as she sees fit without the interference of her husband and his malign mistress, Madame Merle. After Isabel's redoubtable lady's maid, Staines, discloses some astonishing news, the narrative takes a suspenseful turn. Some of the other characters from The Portrait of a Lady including Isabel's aunt, Mrs. Touchett; Pansy Osmond, Gilbert's daughter; and American journalist Henrietta Stackpole appear again. It is clear the freedom and social clout that money bestows in the 19th-century settings of London, Paris, Florence, and Rome, all described in lush detail. As in James's novel, Banville incorporates a wonderful sense of irony; the result is a novel that succeeds both as an unofficial sequel and as a bold, thoroughly satisfying standalone. 50,000-copy announced first printing.
