Five novels dramatize the interaction of Americans with more sophisticated Europeans.

Tells the stories of a fortune hunter, an American heiress living in Europe, and a naive young woman torn between love and idealism.

The first volume in what will eventually be the complete James canon presents his five early novels, filled with sparkling dialogue, masterfully timed suspense, and the romance of youthful and artistic aspiration: Watch and Ward, Roderick Hudson, The American, The Europeans, and Confidence. They appear in their original early versions, without the revisions James added in his later years, revealing his true early style both its occasional naïveté and its remarkable sharpness of observation.

“An extraordinary real-life adventure of men battling the elements and themselves, told with ice-cold precision.” –Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In the dark years following the Civil War, America’s foremost Arctic explorer, Charles Francis Hall, became a figure of national pride when he embarked on a harrowing, landmark expedition. With financial backing from Congress and the personal support of President Grant, Captain Hall and his crew boarded the Polaris, a steam schooner carefully refitted for its rigorous journey, and began their quest to be the first men to reach the North Pole. Neither the ship nor its captain would ever return. What transpired was a tragic death and whispers of murder, as well as a horrifying ordeal through the heart of an Arctic winter, when men fought starvation, madness, and each other upon the ever-shifting ice. Trial by Ice is an incredible adventure that pits men against the natural elements and their own fragile human nature. In this powerful true story of death and survival, courage and intrigue aboard a doomed ship, Richard Parry chronicles one of the most astonishing, little known tragedies at sea in American history. “ABSORBING . . . Suspense builds as Parry describes the events leading up to Hall’s ‘murder,’ then climaxes in horrifying detail.” –Publishers Weekly “RIVETING.” –Library Journal

Roderick Hudson is a phenomenon among sculptors; carving life out of solid stone and moulding the wills of people no less easily. Moving to Rome with his patron and friend, he finds that Europe tests him in ways he had not anticipated, both as an artist and as a man.

'Henry James Goes to Paris' tells the story of the year the young novelist - aged 32 - spent in Paris, in 1875-76. He traveled to Paris with the intention of a much longer, perhaps a life-long stay, but eventually settled in London.