The Awkward Age

Henry James had arrived at such mastery of the forms and uses of fiction by the time he published The Awkward Age in 1899 that this story of a young girl introduced into a casually corrupt circle of sophisticates is at once a universal drama of innocence confronting evil, a detailed examination of a social order, and a stunning picture of a civilization in crisis.

Henry James's "The Awkward Age" is the coming of age story of Nanda, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Brookenham, a couple who travel in a rather decadent and corrupt social circle. Originally serialized in "Harper's Weekly" during 1898-1899, the novel is a biting attack on the English fin de sicle society life, what James personally believed to be an increasingly immoral and irresponsible time in English history.