Here you can read free Henry James books in PDF, from The Turn of the Screw to The Portrait of a Lady. James (1843-1916) was born in New York and spent most of his life in Europe.
His great subject was Americans abroad, caught between innocence and European sophistication. His late novels, like The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl, made him a master of psychological realism.
All these titles are in the public domain and free to download, with no sign-up. If you are new to James, start with Daisy Miller, a short novella you can finish in one afternoon.
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Novels
Henry James Novels
James built his name on novels about Americans abroad, money, marriage, and freedom. Start with Washington Square for a short read, or meet Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady, his best-loved book.
Isabel Archer turns down two proposals to see the world on her own terms, then walks into a marriage that becomes a trap. James's best-loved novel, a masterpiece about freedom, money, and the price of choosing for yourself.
Shy heiress Catherine Sloper is courted by a charming young man her father is sure only wants her fortune. A short, sharp novel set in old New York and the best place to start with Henry James.
Lambert Strether travels to Paris to bring a young American home and ends up questioning his own life instead. James considered it his finest novel, a subtle late work about seeing too late what you missed.
Kate Croy, in love but penniless, pushes her fiance toward a dying American heiress so he can inherit her fortune. One of the three great novels of James's late phase, dark, intricate, and deeply moving.
A wealthy American and his daughter both marry, and their new spouses share a secret past. James's last completed novel, a tense drama of adultery and quiet strategy told through a flawed gilded bowl.
Christopher Newman, a self-made American millionaire, goes to Paris looking for a wife and runs into an aristocratic family that will not have him. An early James novel about money, class, and the clash of two worlds.
After a bitter divorce, young Maisie is passed between selfish parents and their new partners, and sees far more than the adults realize. A sharp, often funny novel told through a child's eyes.
Feminist Olive Chancellor and her conservative Southern cousin Basil Ransom fight over the gifted young speaker Verena Tarrant. James's satirical novel of reform-era Boston, complete in one volume.
Two worldly European siblings arrive at the home of their strict New England cousins, and nobody is quite the same afterward. A short, light, and witty comedy of manners.
A wealthy patron takes a gifted young sculptor to Rome, where talent, passion, and a beautiful woman pull him apart. James's first major novel and his first look at Americans abroad.
Bernard is asked by his friend to judge whether a young woman is a good match, and the trouble begins when he falls for her himself. A brisk, lesser-known early novel of romance and misunderstanding.
Many critics think James was at his best in shorter works like Daisy Miller and The Beast in the Jungle. Here you will also find his ghost stories, led by The Turn of the Screw and The Jolly Corner.
A young governess at a lonely English country house becomes convinced that two ghosts are after the children in her care. Our own Project Aldus edition of the most famous ghost story in English, carefully checked and newly set.
A free-spirited American girl in Switzerland and Rome ignores every rule of European society, with tragic results. The novella that made James famous, and a perfect afternoon read.
A literary scholar moves into a Venetian palazzo under false pretenses to get his hands on a dead poet's love letters. A gripping novella about obsession and how far someone will go for a secret.
John Marcher spends his life waiting for something extraordinary to happen to him, while the woman beside him waits too. One of James's most haunting stories about a life unlived.
After decades in Europe, Spencer Brydon returns to his empty New York house and hunts the ghost of the man he might have become. A late ghost story that is as much about regret as about fear.
A young telegraph clerk pieces together an aristocratic love affair from the messages she sends every day. A clever novella about class, curiosity, and imagination.
Twenty-five stories from the first half of James's career, from A Tragedy of Error to Daisy Miller, An International Episode, and The Author of Beltraffio. The best way to follow how his short fiction grew.
Twenty-one late stories, among them The Figure in the Carpet, The Altar of the Dead, The Beast in the Jungle, and The Jolly Corner. James at his most subtle and haunting.
George Stransom keeps a private altar of candles for everyone he has lost, except the one friend who betrayed him. A quiet, moving tale about grief, memory, and forgiveness.
A shy librarian becomes the caretaker of a great poet's birthplace and slowly realizes that almost nothing the tourists hear is true. A funny, ironic story about literary fame.
A New England schoolteacher saves for years to see Europe, only to have her dream taken from her on her first day there. A short, bittersweet story told in four encounters.
Two young English aristocrats visit New York and Newport, and one of them falls for a bright Boston girl. A light comedy that flips Daisy Miller around, putting the English abroad in America.
A stiff young German diplomat tries to figure out the self-made American girl he meets on the ship to New York. A playful story about a new kind of woman.
A young naval officer secretly marries the bold Georgina, who then abandons their child and marries again. One of James's most melodramatic tales, full of secrets and broken vows.
Back in Florence after 27 years, a retired general watches a young man court a woman much like the one he once rejected. A short story told in diary form about regret and second chances.
A young American woman staying with her married sister in England is dragged into the scandal of her sister's affairs. A novella about reputation and loyalty in London society.
James also wrote about other writers, the places he loved, and his own family. These books show the man behind the novels, from his study of Hawthorne to his memories of his brother William James.
James's short critical biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the writer he most admired in America. A sharp look at Hawthorne's life and work, and at what it meant to be an American artist.
James's essays on Venice, Florence, Rome, and the Italian countryside, written over forty years of travel. A rich, personal guide to Italy by someone who loved it deeply.
The second volume of James's memoirs, covering his youth, his family, the Civil War years, and his brother William James. An intimate portrait of the family that shaped him.
James became a British citizen in 1915 and was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His close focus on a single mind helped open the door to modernism, and writers like Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton read him closely.
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