7 h 16 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 16 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the person who claims to know you best refuses to believe anyone could love you?
In a quiet New York street of fine brick houses, Catherine Sloper longs for her father's approval. Shy, plain and good-hearted, she stands to inherit a fortune. Then handsome Morris Townsend begins to court her, offering the attention she rarely receives at home.
Doctor Austin Sloper trusts his own judgment more than his daughter's heart. Morris has charm, but no money or steady work, and the doctor begins to investigate. As Aunt Lavinia Penniman encourages the romance with secrets and schemes, Henry James turns a small family quarrel into a sharp contest over love, money and control.
What you’ll discover
- A daughter worth knowing Follow Catherine as love tests her trust in her father and in herself.
- Charm under suspicion Meet Morris Townsend, whose courtship raises uneasy questions about affection and inheritance.
- A father's cold certainty Watch a brilliant doctor weigh his daughter's happiness against his own unshakable judgment.
- Secrets beneath one roof Aunt Lavinia's romantic schemes bring dry humor and fresh trouble into the family house.
- Love tangled with money Explore how care becomes control when one person claims to know what another needs.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy family dramas with sharp dialogue, quiet suspense about money and motive, and the old New York of brownstones and carriages.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Dr. Sloper wanted a brilliant child
- A foolish aunt moves into the house
- A handsome stranger asks Catherine to dance
- The doctor studies the suitor and dislikes him
- Catherine announces her engagement and her father refuses
- Aunt Penniman schemes while Catherine stays quiet
- Catherine chooses Morris and is sent to Europe
- In a lonely valley the doctor shows his anger
- Love and money are tangled from the start
- A father's love can become a kind of control
- The narrator tells the story with a smile
Who’s who
- Catherine SloperA shy, plain, loyal heiress who lives with her father on Washington Square and wants above all to please him and to be loved.
- Dr. Austin SloperA famous, witty New York physician and widower who trusts his own judgment and wants his daughter safe from fortune hunters.
- Morris TownsendA handsome, charming young man with no job and no money who courts Catherine and wants a comfortable life.
- Mrs. Lavinia PennimanThe doctor's widowed sister, who lives in his house, loves secrets and romance, and cheers on the courtship.
- Mrs. Elizabeth AlmondThe doctor's sensible younger sister, who watches the family trouble with kindness and quiet humor.
- Mrs. MontgomeryMorris's widowed sister, a neat and honest woman with five children who knows her brother better than anyone.
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Washington Square
by Henry James · 1880
A shy heiress in Washington Square falls for a charming man her doctor father believes wants only her money.
Medium level2–5 hours to readDeutsch
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanischFranzösischDeutschItalienischJapanischPortugiesischEnglischHow we measure levels
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In short
Would you want your father to be right about the person you love, if being right meant losing him? That question hangs over Catherine Sloper, a shy young woman in a handsome new house on Washington Square in New York.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Dr. Sloper wanted a brilliant child
Dr. Austin Sloper is a celebrated physician in New York. He is clever, witty and rich. He married for love, and his wife brought him a large dowry as well.
Then life turns hard. His first child, a boy he adored, dies at three. Two years later his wife dies soon after giving birth to a daughter. The doctor blames himself more harshly than anyone else does.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1880
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 4 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
James, Henry. Washington Square. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square.
James, H. (2026). Washington Square. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square (Original work published 1880)
James, Henry. Washington Square. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square.
@book{james2026washington,
author = {James, Henry},
title = {Washington Square},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square},
note = {First published 1880}
}
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What is Washington Square about?
It tells of Catherine Sloper, a shy heiress in nineteenth-century New York, her witty father Dr. Sloper, and the handsome Morris Townsend, who courts her. The doctor thinks Morris wants only her money, and the story follows the resulting family conflict.
Is Washington Square a true story?
It is fiction. Henry James published it in 1880, and set it in the New York of his youth. He said the plot came from a story a friend told him, but the characters and scenes are his own.
Who is Morris Townsend in Washington Square?
Morris is a charming, good-looking man in his thirties who has travelled widely and spent his small inheritance. He courts Catherine, and the novel keeps asking whether he loves her or her fortune.
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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