After her parents’ divorce, young Maisie’s divides her time between living with her mother and father. Beale and Ida are frivolous and irresponsible parents, treating Maisie as a go-between and paying little attention to her other than to use her against one another. With growing awareness of the situation, Maisie matures into a precocious and disillusioned young woman whose views of the world are impacted by her parents’ neglect and the dysfunctional relationships she has witnessed throughout her life.
Originally published serially in the Chap-Book and later in the New Review before being published as a single volume, What Maisie Knew is author Henry James’s exploration of childhood and family dysfunction that continues to be relevant today.
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