Home
/
Fiction
/
The Princess Casamassima
The Princess Casamassima
Nov 24, 2025 1:01 PM

Author:Henry James,Derek Brewer

The Princess Casamassima

The illegitimate and impoverished son of a dressmaker and a nobleman, Hyacinth Robinson has grown up with a strong sense of beauty that heightens his acute sympathy for the inequalities that surround him. Drawn into a secret circle of radical politics he makes a rash vow to commit a violent act of terrorism. But when the Princess Casamassima - beautiful, clever and bored - takes him up and introduces him to her own world of wealth and refinement, Hyacinth is torn. He is horrified by the destruction that would be wreaked by revolution, but still believes he must honour his vow, and finds himself gripped in an agonizing and, ultimately, fatal dilemma. A compelling blend of psychological observation, wit and compassion, The Princess Casamassima (1886) is one of Henry James's most deeply personal novels.

Reviews

History and legend combine in an epic recreation of the Troy myth

—— Conn Iggulden

David Gemmell carries us away to a four-cornered, wholly convincing cosmos, so masterfully done that the reader thinks, 'Ah this is what it was really like'

—— Steven Pressfield

Gripping and fast-paced, intelligent and intensely readable... should appeal to anyone who enjoys an action-packed historical epic

—— Joanne Harris

The loyalties and betrayals, the love and the hate, the endless, everlasting courage of the men - and the women - of both sides are brought to life in this vivid, inspirational recreation of the Troy myth

—— Manda Scott

'Gruesomely entertaining ... intellectually fascinating'

—— Daily Mail

'A tragi-comedy of elegant and unrelieved blackness'

—— Sunday Telegraph

'Erudite and compelling... Genuinely hard to put down'

—— Sunday Times

'Wilson has always been a brilliant storyteller, who ­- unlike many of his no less famous contemporaries - is incapable of ever writing a boring line... Masterly... Always enthralling... Here is a book one races through, so eager is one to know what happens next... In [Wilson's] hands, as in James's, each turn of the screw succeeds in intensifying the reader's unease'

—— Francis King , Literary Review
Comments
Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdbook.com All Rights Reserved