What Maisie Knew (Annotated - Includes Essay and Biography)

What Maisie Knew is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in the Chap-Book and (revised and abridged) in the New Review in 1897 and then as a book later in the same year. The story of the sensitive daughter of divorced and irresponsible parents, What Maisie Knew has great contemporary relevance as an unflinching account of a wildly dysfunctional family. The book is also a masterly technical achievement by James, as it follows the title character from earliest childhood to precocious maturity.

A contemporary version of the classic novel is being made into a movie starring Alexander Skarsgard, Julianne Moore, and Steve Coogan.