23 h 36 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 23 h 36 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the people most determined to be kind are the ones quietly hurting each other?
In London, Prince Amerigo prepares to marry Maggie Verver, the devoted daughter of an American millionaire. He has an ancient name and little money. She has wealth and a deep attachment to her father, Adam. When Maggie’s old friend Charlotte Stant returns, her past with the Prince brings an unspoken strain into their carefully ordered world.
Two marriages become tangled in London and the English countryside. Adam collects fine art and wants his daughter to be happy; Charlotte wants a secure place in the world. In The Golden Bowl, Henry James draws close to minds that weigh every gesture. Love, money and loyalty pull against one another, while perfect manners leave the hardest things unsaid.
What you’ll discover
- Kindness with a cost Watch generous intentions become a quiet source of pressure on the people they mean to protect.
- Money behind the manners Explore how the Ververs’ wealth gives them power to arrange other people’s lives.
- Old ties, new promises Follow a prince who tries to be a good husband without breaking old attachments.
- The weight of silence Feel the tension in small favors, guarded glances and the effort to look innocent.
- Lives seen from within Enter closely observed minds, where a single gesture can demand patient thought.
Who will love it
For readers who love close stories about marriage, manners and moral choices, and enjoy thinking over what characters really mean. Love, money, loyalty and secrets shape a drama of glances, quiet conversations and hidden power.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Prince Rich Only in Ancestry
- Maggie and Her Father Form One Household
- Charlotte Stant Returns From the Past
- A Golden Bowl With a Hidden Flaw
- Maggie Proposes a Marriage for Her Father
- Two Couples Settle Into Careful Silence
- Maggie Slowly Begins to See
- What the Novel Is Really About
- A Story Told From Inside Minds
Who’s who
- Maggie VerverThe shy, devoted American daughter of a millionaire, she loves her father and her husband and wants nobody she loves to be hurt.
- Adam VerverA widowed American collector of art, gentle and patient, who plans a great museum and wants his daughter to be happy.
- Prince AmerigoAn impoverished Roman nobleman with perfect manners, who marries Maggie and tries to be a good husband without breaking old ties.
- Charlotte StantA poised, clever and penniless American friend of Maggie's, who wants a secure place in the world and has a past with the Prince.
- Fanny AssinghamAn American in London who helped arrange the match, watches everyone with worried care and cannot stop trying to manage events.
- Colonel Bob AssinghamFanny's retired British officer husband, a dry, patient listener who tests her theories with plain common sense.
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- Audiobook
- 23 h 36 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Die goldene Schale in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Die goldene Schale
by Henry James · 1904
Maggie Verver loves her father and her husband, but old secrets strain the two marriages that bind them.
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In short
The Golden Bowl is a novel by Henry James, published in 1904. It is the last of the three long novels of his final period, and it tells of two marriages that grow tangled together in London and the English countryside.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Prince Rich Only in Ancestry
The novel opens in London with Prince Amerigo, a Roman nobleman, who is about to marry Maggie Verver. His family is among the oldest in Italy, and its history is full of popes, soldiers and statesmen. Yet the family fortune is gone, and the Prince has little to offer except his name and his charm. He knows this, and he knows that his bride has more money than he can easily picture.
James lets us watch the Prince think. He walks through the London streets and considers how odd his position is. He likes the idea of the marriage, and he is fond of Maggie, but he has no clear sense of the American world she comes from. He feels like a rare object that has been bought for a collection, and the thought amuses him and troubles him in turn.
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What is The Golden Bowl about?
It follows two linked marriages in London society. An American heiress marries an Italian prince, and her widowed millionaire father marries her friend, who once loved the prince. The story shows how kindness, money and secrecy strain all four relationships.
What does the golden bowl symbolize?
The bowl is a gilded crystal with a hidden crack. It stands for relationships that look perfect and whole from outside while carrying a concealed flaw, and it links the novel's two halves.
Who are the main characters in The Golden Bowl?
They are Maggie Verver, her father Adam, Prince Amerigo, and Charlotte Stant. Fanny Assingham, who helped make the match, and her husband Colonel Bob Assingham act as watchers and commentators.
The author
Henry James
1843–1916 · American British novelist
Henry James was born in New York City in 1843. He settled in England in 1876 and became a British citizen in 1915. He wrote novels, stories, plays, and travel books. His works include Daisy Miller (1878), The Turn of the Screw (1898), and The Ambassadors (1903). He died in London in 1916.
More by Henry James
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