The Other House

Description of book

The Other House is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in the Illustrated London News in 1896 and then as a book later the same year.

Set in England, this book is something of an oddity in the James canon for its plot revolving around a murder.

Julia Bream dies after giving birth to her only child, a daughter named Effie. Julia had a horrible stepmother, so she extracts a promise from her husband Tony never to marry again as long as Effie is alive…

Many have speculated that this strange tale of murder and a cover-up was influenced by Ibsen's grimmer plays. There may be something to this idea, because in the 1890s James came to appreciate Ibsen as his plays became known in England.

James seems to have liked the way he dramatized his material in The Other House. In his Notebooks he plans a section of his novel The Ivory Tower "after the manner in which the first book is a prologue in The Other House. Oh, blest Other House, which gives me thus at every step a precedent, a divine little light to walk by..." But James did not include The Other House in the New York Edition of his fiction (1907–1909), one of the few later novels not to make the cut.

Henry James, OM (Order of Merit) (1843-1916) was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism.

He is best known for a number of novels showing Americans encountering Europe and Europeans. His method of writing from a character's point of view allowed him to explore issues related to consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting. His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue and unreliable narrators brought a new depth to narrative fiction.

Henry James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.