18 h 48 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if bringing someone home means questioning everything you believe about the life he should leave?
Lambert Strether leaves proper Woollett, Massachusetts, for Paris with a clear task. Mrs. Newsome, the wealthy widow he hopes to marry, wants her son Chad home to run the family business. Strether expects to find a spoiled young man held abroad by a bad influence. Instead, Chad seems polished, confident, and far harder to judge.
In Henry James's The Ambassadors, a simple errand becomes a slow change of mind. Maria Gostrey helps Strether understand Europe, while Chad's closeness to Madame de Vionnet tests the assumptions he brings from home. As Paris draws him in, loyalty pulls against perception. Can he serve Mrs. Newsome faithfully and still trust what he sees?
What you’ll discover
- A mind opening slowly See through Strether's eyes as other people's certainties give way to his own uneasy questions.
- Paris beyond easy judgments Enter drawing rooms and a sculptor's garden, where conversation unsettles ideas carried from home.
- Loyalty under quiet pressure Follow a decent man whose wish to do right pulls him toward conflicting loyalties.
- Charm, doubt, and comedy Enjoy awkward encounters and careful exchanges in which small shifts of understanding matter deeply.
- The limits of seeing Explore identity and self-deception alongside a man learning to question his own view of life.
Who will love it
For readers who love close attention to character, conversations and moral shades of grey, and who enjoy Paris and the contrast between America and Europe.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A man is sent to fetch a son
- A guide appears and begins to teach
- Paris shows a changed young man
- Live all you can, says Strether
- Madame de Vionnet and the question of Chad
- Woollett sends a second embassy
- Seeing life is the real subject
- Loyalty and self-deception pull against each other
- How James tells it and how to read it
Who’s who
- Lambert StretherA decent, anxious American editor from Woollett who is sent to Paris on a mission and finds his view of life changing.
- Mrs. NewsomeA wealthy, strict widow in Woollett who funds Strether's review and sends him to bring her son home.
- Chad NewsomeMrs. Newsome's son, long settled in Paris, now polished and self-possessed, who is expected to return and run the family business.
- Maria GostreyAn American living in Europe who befriends Strether on his arrival and helps him understand what he sees.
- Madame de VionnetA French countess, separated from her husband, who is close to Chad and to her young daughter Jeanne.
- Little BilhamA friendly young American artist in Paris and a friend of Chad, who answers Strether's questions with care.
- Sarah PocockChad's sister, brisk and sure of Woollett's views, who comes to Paris to settle what Strether has not.
- WaymarshStrether's old friend, an American lawyer who distrusts Europe and sees Paris as a danger.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 18 h 48 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- 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.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear The Ambassadors 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.
The Ambassadors
by Henry James · 1903
Sent to Paris to bring Chad home, Strether finds his loyalty to Mrs. Newsome pulling against his changing view of life.
Challenging10–20 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
The Ambassadors is a novel by Henry James, first published in 1903. It follows Lambert Strether, a middle-aged American editor, who crosses the Atlantic on a mission for the woman he hopes to marry.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A man is sent to fetch a son
Lambert Strether is fifty-five, a widower, and a decent man with a modest life. He lives in Woollett, Massachusetts, where he edits a small review paid for by Mrs. Newsome. She is a woman of strict principle and large fortune. Over the years Strether has come to rely on her, and the town takes it for granted that the two will marry.
Mrs. Newsome's son Chad went to Europe some years ago and has not come back. The family business, a manufacturing concern in Woollett, needs him. Mrs. Newsome is sure that some unworthy woman in Paris holds him there. She asks Strether to go over, open the young man's eyes and bring him home.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about The Ambassadors
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Ambassadors about?
It follows Lambert Strether, an American editor sent to Paris to bring home Chad Newsome, the son of his wealthy patron. What he finds there changes his view of Chad, of the woman in Chad's life and of his own life.
Who is Madame de Vionnet?
She is a French countess, separated from her husband and mother of a young daughter, Jeanne. She is close to Chad Newsome and has a deep influence on him, and Strether comes to admire her.
What does the title The Ambassadors mean?
Strether is sent as an envoy by Mrs. Newsome, and later a second group follows from Woollett. The word points to people who speak for others and who may find their loyalties changing abroad.
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
All 20 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
