The Golden Bowl

By: Henry James

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except a husband and a title. While in Italy, acquiring art for his museum back in the States, Maggie’s millionaire father, Adam, decides to remedy this and acquire a husband for Maggie.

Enter Prince Amerigo, of a titled but now poor aristocratic Florentine family. Amerigo is the perfect candidate. Delighted, Maggie then reciprocates by choosing a partner for her widower father: childhood friend Charlotte Stant. The stage is set, and what unfolds is a deep and gripping exploration of fidelity and the politics of love and marriage.

Published in 1904, The Golden Bowl displays Henry James at his finest: James weaves scene upon scene, set piece upon set piece, into a seamless whole, through a richly dense tapestry of beautiful, flowing prose. Along with The Ambassadors and The Wings of the Dove, it constitutes James’ final and most rewarding phase as a novelist.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2018 Naxos AudioBooks

Top notch narration

Henry James is never easy to follow, but Juliet Stevenson’s narration is nothing short of amazing in this book.

Sublime

A thoroughly modern tale of love, marriage, and potential scandal - hard to believe it was written so long ago.

If you don't love this book, it's your fault

Only the Master can make oceans drift the boat from one coast to the other and back between reflective pauses on the resonant meanings of a single phrase. A masterpiece of polyphonic, polysemic writing...and it penetrates the heart if you lend it the patience to show its grace. A guide to endurance through the darkness beseting all the phases in love's uncertain journey until at last the fruit of patience, the fruit of trust and forgiveness can make a shoddy purchase gleam as gold, make a heart of glass gain color.

Juliet Stephenson is to the audiobook what Shakespeare is to verse...synonymous with acme.

The best!

The Golden Bowl is one of Henry James' most complicated and enthralling novels. Juliet Stevenson is without doubt one of the best readers you can find on audible. The combination made me appreciate the subtleties of this work I had missed while reading it on the page.

Perfect reading, incomparable novel

Like music, Henry James novels are cascades of sounds and ideas. I have read the book twice before. Now listening is much easier for my tired eyes. Narrator Juliet Stevenson struck just the right pitch. Different characters have only slightly different inflections, but that's okay. The flow of words goes on.