, John Banville’s seventeenth novel, comprises 376 pages in the first Penguin edition, divided into 36 chapters separated into Part One and Part Two at the end of Chapter 18. The novel is narrated in the third-person using free-indirect representation of speech and thought, notably focused through Mrs Isabel Osmond, the central character of Henry James’s

(1881). Banville has often referred to James as one of his most formative influences, and in this novel he delights in displaying his mastery of Jamesian style.

Part One is as fine an example of the free-indirect as can be found in recent fiction. It represents Isabel’s return to London a few weeks after the funeral of her beloved cousin Ralph Touchett, at Gardencourt, the Touchett family estate to the

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Citation: Clark, Robert. "Mrs. Osmond: A Novel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39060, accessed 19 April 2024.]