Mrs Osmond

John Banville Viking €16.99

Banville’s sequel to The Portrait Of A Lady begins where Henry James’s novel left off. Following her cousin Ralph’s death, Isabel Archer – now Osmond – must decide what to do with her inherited wealth, and whether to return to her miserable life in Italy. In London she consults her new friend Miss Janeway and old friend Henrietta Stackpole; in Paris she encounters her bitter enemy Serena Merle. Finally, she confronts her duplicitous husband, and discovers an even darker secret from his past. James fans might find the plot melodramatic, but it’s satisfying on its own terms, and this is a generally respectful tribute to a classic, written with near-Jamesian elegance.