En Province

Henry James spent enough time in France to write about more than just Paris, and En Province is the result of his wandering through smaller French towns and regions. It’s not a novel. It reads like a series of travel essays, the kind that were common in the late nineteenth century when readers wanted someone literary to tell them what a place felt like.

James has a way of slowing down at moments most travel writers would rush past. A church facade, the way a market square looks at dusk, the awkwardness of sitting in a provincial hotel dining room.

If you’re already a James reader, the prose style won’t surprise you. Long sentences, careful observations, occasional drift into reflection. If you’ve never read him, this is probably an easier entry point than his novels.