Lambert Strether has arrived in Paris from Woollett, Massachusetts, at the behest of Mrs. Newsome. She is both his fiance and his employer. Strether is an ambassador for America in the sense that Mrs. Newsome wants him to convince her son Chad to return home. She believes that life in Paris, particularly his French mistress, is corrupting him. Lambert, at first at odds with the Paris lifestyle eventually comes to feel that it is right for Chad as he is happier and more civilized than he had been at home.

The Reverberator was published in 1888 and was somewhat of a departure for Henry James as it is both lighter and easier to read than some of his other works. It was a short comedic novel, a satire on the manners and ways of Americans as innocents abroad and not the least, the means the media uses to sell newspapers (James based it on a case of irresponsible reporting in Florence). It first appeared in print in Macmillan's Magazine. It came out in book form later the same year in both London and New York. The title name refers to a gossipy newspaper that employs one George Flack, its ambitious reporter in Paris. He wants to see The Reverberator become a large international publication. One of Georgeís friends is pretty Francie Dosson, whom he has designs on himself. Francie, however, soon becomes engaged to Gaston Probert, an American by birth.

In 1880 Washington Square was published simultaneously in serialized form in both the United States and England. Very quickly it appeared in book form before the end of the year. It is one of James' shorter novels. By the time it was published Henry James was already at work on The Portrait of a Lady and showed no great enthusiasm for Washington Square. He excluded the latter work from his 1908 New York Edition of collected works. The story is told by an omniscient narrator. The story is well structured and relatively straight forward in its style. It is a tale of a young woman restricted by her class and times, who is dominated by her father.

The novel The Awkward Age was published in 1899. The story, set in contemporary time, revolves around Nanda Brookenham, the daughter of Fernanda. Fernanda, who goes by the name of Mrs. Brook, keeps a fashionable London salon. She has ambitions for her daughter to marry well, and has delayed her daughters debut into society for as long as possible. The title of the novel, The Awkward Age, is open to speculative interpretation as to whose awkward age James is referring to.

The heroine of The Wings of a Dove is Milly, an extremely rich American girl, who has been left with no living relatives. She spends much of her time with friend and fellow traveler Susan Shepherd Stringham and together they become part of the social circle of Maud Lowder, a friend of Susan's who lives in London. Milly and Susan are not introduced to the readers until the third chapter. The first two chapters are taken up with Kate Croy, who is Mrs. Lowder's niece, and Merton Densher, a journalist whom Kate is in love with.

The Bostonians was first published in serialized form in The Century Magazine in 1885 and 1886. It was published in book form in London in 1886. A change from Henry James look at Europeans, the novel is a study of the American scene. James had high hopes for its success and was very disappointed with its slow sales. Critics feel it lakes a sympathetic character and that the descriptions of New England life lack spark. Chapters with no dialogue at all test the most diligent of Henry James aficionados. The Bostonians is different from most of James books due to its strong political, rather than social, theme.

The Sacred Fount came immediately before what is considered the period of Henry James' greatest achievement as a writer. In spite of this, The Sacred Fount is one of James' least admired works. Critics at the time lambasted it and that early criticism has not helped its reputation in the over a hundred and ten years since its publication. The novel was published in 1901, by Scribner's in New York and by Methuen in London. It is the only one of James' novels to be narrated in the first person. The narrator is never named.