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The Europeans

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The Europeans

By: Henry James
Narrated by: Lloyd James
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About this listen

 Eugenia, a baroness divorced from a German prince, and her bohemian brother, Felix, are coming back to America. Raised and cultured in Europe, they are returning destitute to New England to seek out their rich and innocent cousins.

Eugenia wins the attentions of Robert Acton, the most appropriate suitor in the area, while also seducing her younger cousin, Clifford. But her foreign gentility and audacity confuse the puritanical customs of the New World.

On the other hand, Felix's luxurious romantic ways find acceptance with the American women. But misunderstandings of a different kind complicate his plans.

In a bungle of culture clash and love triangles, the Europeans hang their fortunes upon their ability to adapt. But where their scheming leads them is the last place they expect.

Public Domain (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics

Critic reviews

"[The] reading by Lloyd James...is excellent here. He softens his voice for the German characters and gives the pompous, self-centered Eugenia a deep, sonorous murmur." (Kliatt)
"James's irony is far from being unkind; he sees too much he admires in the [American] ethos he criticizes to condemn it....This small book, written so early in James's career, is a masterpiece of major quality." (F. R. Leavis)
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Evidently Henry James partly agreed with his brother's criticism of the novel's 'slightness', but, if it is slight, it is a pleasing, and sometimes very funny slight novel. Well read by its narrator.

Light quick Henry James beautifully narrated

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