The author selected writer Henry James to base this novel
on. It is the life of Henry James as imagined by Colm Toibin. What is interesting to me is that throughout
the novel, the character Henry James chose people he knew and based characters
on them in his stories. Did the real
Henry James do that in real life?
The character went through reservations about his life as a
writer. When he tried his hand at
play-writing, he wasn’t successful so he went back to writing.
It took me a few chapters to get hooked into the story and I
enjoyed it. I don’t know much about
Henry James, but after reading this “make-believe” tale, I will be reading some
of his novels.
