The Bostonians by Henry James

THE BOSTONIAN follows the lives of three main chracters: Basil Ransom, a rock-ribbed conservative Southerner from Mississippi, now living in New York; Olive Chancellor, Ransom's cousin and a Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young friends of Olive's in the burgeoning feminist movement. Basil becomes fascinated with Verena, having never encountered a woman like her before.