The Spoils of Poynton

Henry James (1843 - 1916)

The recently widowed Adela Gereth, a lover of beauty and passionate collector of fine objects, strikes up a friendship with the young Fleda Vetch, when both of them find themselves guests in the tasteless house of Brigstock family. Mrs. Gereth fears that her son Owen, an honorable but somewhat unimaginative young man, may take up with one of the Brigstock girls, and indeed he presently announces his engagement to Mona, the eldest daughter. That means that Mrs. Gereth will have to leave Poynton, the beautiful house that she and her husband filled with the furniture, china, tapestries, and other objects that they lovingly collected over the years. It is not so much possessiveness that drives Mrs. Gereth to want to maintain control over them (or so she claims, at any rate), but rather the sense that she will have failed if Mona, understanding and appreciating nothing of what Poynton contains, should become Owen's wife and take charge. The story and its developing conflicts are seen largely from the point of view of Fleda Vetch, the young woman who, her moral and aesthetic sensibilities tuned perhaps as finely as any of James's protagonists, finds herself caught in the middle.

(Summary by Nicholas Clifford)

Genre(s): General Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 01 - Chapter 1 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:15:26
Play 02 02 - Chapter 2 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:15:34
Play 03 03 - Chapter 3 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:21:01
Play 04 04 - Chapter 4 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:21:36
Play 05 05 - Chapter 5 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:16:43
Play 06 06 - Chapter 6 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:22:44
Play 07 07 - Chapter 7 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:26:48
Play 08 08 - Chapter 8 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:31:06
Play 09 09 - Chapter 9 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:09:27
Play 10 10 - Chapter 10 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:17:57
Play 11 11 - Chapter 11 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:13:46
Play 12 12 - Chapter 12 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:21:29
Play 13 13 - Chapter 13 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:15:34
Play 14 14 - Chapter 14 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:25:46
Play 15 15 - Chapter 15 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:16:13
Play 16 16 - Chapter 16 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:31:37
Play 17 17 - Chapter 17 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:23:02
Play 18 18 - Chapter 18 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:24:52
Play 19 19 - Chapter 19 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:11:19
Play 20 20 - Chapter 20 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:16:57
Play 21 21 - Chapter 21 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:12:48
Play 22 22 - Chapter 22 Nicholas Clifford (1930-2019)
00:22:19