Washington Square by Henry James

Henry James's 1880 novel is widely considered his most accessible work, and it earns that reputation on every page. Catherine Sloper — plain, wealthy, and deeply earnest — is betrayed by both the fortune-hunting Morris Townsend and her own brilliant, withholding father, and James renders her quiet devastation with surgical precision. Critic Donald Hall put it plainly: everybody likes Washington Square. The structure is economical and the psychological insight is James at his sharpest, without the labyrinthine prose of his later period. The honest caveat: the deliberate emotional coldness can feel bleak, and James's irony occasionally requires a second read to land. A genuinely affecting novel about resilience in the face of betrayal — ideal for older teens through adults.