Book excerpt: In 1880 Washington Square was published simultaneously in serialized form in both the United States and England. Very quickly it appeared in book form before the end of the year. It is one of James' shorter novels. By the time it was published Henry James was already at work on The Portrait of a Lady and showed no great enthusiasm for Washington Square. He excluded the latter work from his 1908 New York Edition of collected works. The story is told by an omniscient narrator. The story is well structured and relatively straight forward in its style. It is a tale of a young woman restricted by her class and times, who is dominated by her father.