The Bostonians Summary

Published in 1886, The Bostonians is a novel by Henry James that primarily focuses on the 19th century's traditional realism and the movements against impracticality and transcendentalism. The novel focuses on the competition between Oliver Chancellor (a northern feminist) and Basil Ransom (a southern conservative) to win Verena Tarrant's attention.

The novel opens with the protagonist, Basil Ransom, relocating to New York to commence a new life and establish his law practice. After the Civil War, Basil's family losses its entire fortune, but that does not prevent him from moving on and starting afresh. Basil is a young, experienced lawyer looking forward to re-establishing his career in New York. Olive invites Basil to Boston, and she hopes that they will get along well before he stabilizes to live alone. When Basil arrives at Olive's home in Boston, Adeline receives him. Adeline is Olive's sister, and he cautions him to be careful when interacting with Olive because she is a feminist. Adeline knows that Basil is a staunch conservative, and she thinks he will likely crash with Olive's uncompromising stand on feminism.

Basil meets Verena Tarrant for the first time when he accompanies Olive to Miss Birdseye's home, where she is invited to give a speech. Basil does not approve of Verena's speech because it promotes feminism. However, Basil is attracted to Verena because she is beautiful, and he looks for an opportunity to interact with her. Later, Basil learns that Verena will be visiting Olive soon, and he starts strategizing how he will approach her. When Verena comes to Olive's home, Basil interacts with her, and he promises to meet her again.

The novel quickly shifts to the friendship between Verena and Olive. Olive encourages Verena to stay single, but Verena cannot keep her promise because she often flirts with different men. However, Verena tries to refuse marriage proposals from Mr. Pardon and Henry, but she secretly wishes to get married. Olive learns that men are pursuing Verena, and she decides to take her to Europe to ensure she does not get married. Before Verena and Olive relocate to Europe, Basil secretly visits Verena in her parents' house and requests her never to disclose his visits to Olive. Basil discovers that he connects very well with Verena despite her strong feminist views. Whenever Verena goes out with Basil, she keeps it a secret to ensure Olive does not know about their secretive affair.

When Olive finally discovers that Verena and Basil are having an affair, their conflict escalates. Verena is reluctant to leave New York for Europe, but Olive keeps on insisting because she does not want her to get married to Basil or any other man. Olive also learns that there is pressure from Mrs. Burrage, who wants Verena to be married to her son. On the other hand, Basil continues to convince Verena that her feminist views are flawed and that she should accept they get married. Verena agrees that her views are not backed up by research, and she requests Olive to take her back to Boston. A few months later, Miss Birdseye dies, and Verena feels guilty for abandoning her feminism activism, and she refuses Basil's marriage proposal. Towards the end, Verena changes her mind and decides to leave with Basil, leaving Olive shocked and disappointed.