Maisie's parents divorce and share her out six months each, then use her as a courier for the things they wish to say to one another. What she understands — and when — is the whole novel, and James never once steps outside her. He was born American, took British nationality in his last year, and wrote in 1897 the most unsparing book about adults ever put in a child's point of view. Fifty-seven plates, among them Whistler's river views and Chelsea Houses, fix the novel's shifting households in the painted London of James's own day.
