Indian Summer (1886)

by William Dean Howells

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Midway of the Ponte Vecchio at Florence where three arches break the lines of the little jewellers' booths glittering on either hand and open an approach to the parapet Colville lounged against the corner of a shop and stared out upon the river.

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Daisy Miller by Henry James (inge87)

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Books Set in Italy (112)

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Fiction (Mostly) in Selective Bibliography of American Literature 1775-1900 (82)

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My first Howells novel, and sure, I'd probably read another one or two. Perhaps not the most terribly exciting book, and the characters are nowhere near as interesting or well-drawn as those of Trollope (for example). But it held my attention just fine, for the most part. (

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JBD1 | Dec 4, 2020 |

Some great lines from the 1886 classic:

"Oh, how can you be yourself, and still be yourself?"

"His instinct of forbearance had served him better than the subtlest art. His submission was the best defense."

"She dropped on her knees beside her bed, and stretched out her arms upon it, an image of that desolation of soul which, when we are young, seems limitless, but which in later life we know has comparatively narrow bounds beyond the clouds that rest so blackly around us."

Maturity dallies with inexperience and youth and comes out stronger and more sure of itself on the other side. No passages of easy advantage, ripping spring flowers from trees, justifying existence by rubbing the soft skin of initial bloom with calloused fingers. The sickening cliché of the older man with the younger woman gets a far more even-eyed, verdancy-after-final-frost kind of treatment (

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ToddSherman | Aug 24, 2017 |

I enjoyed this book. Indian Summer was abt 350 pages. I enjoyed the author's writing style and the story itself. Good character developement and good characters! I just felt this was longer than it needed to be.I plan to read other stories by this author.The ending was disappointing considering how the story started. He was a contemporary of Mark Twain. (

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LauGal | Aug 16, 2016 |

Theodore Colvill, newly and abruptly retired from two decades in the newspaper business, returns to Florence to begin the second act of his life. He meets an old friend and her stunning ward and blunders into a romance with the younger woman which becomes more and more difficult to sustain. Howells ventures into Henry James territory with a lighter touch and a less compelling style but a more realistic resolution. At the end of the story, his characters mouth the same sort of tortured-sensibility stuff that James writes, but then it all slips away and the story ends happily and sensibly. I enjoyed it very much, but not much really happens and that got tedious toward the end. (

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Bjace | Aug 16, 2013 |

I always like stories about autumn-spring romances, gives old guys like me hope, even though they rarely work out. (

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charlie68 | Oct 23, 2009 |

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New York Review Books Classics

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Novels 1875-1886: A Foregone Conclusion, A Modern Instance, Indian Summer, The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells

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Newark Public Library's 1904 List of a Thousand of the Best Novels

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Indian Summer

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1886

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Midway of the Pont Vecchio at Florence, where three arches break the lines of the little jeweller's booths glittering on either hand,and open an approach to the parapet, Colville lounged against the corner of a shop and stared out upon the river.

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Midway of the Ponte Vecchio at Florence where three arches break the lines of the little jewellers' booths glittering on either hand and open an approach to the parapet Colville lounged against the corner of a shop and stared out upon the river.

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Indian Summer - When you think of chroniclers of love, life and American society during the Gilded Age, you automatically think of Henry James and Edith Wharton. But while W.D. Howells never quite reached their levels of prominence, his similar works are full of quiet introspection and evocative, vivid prose reminiscent of Wharton at her best. A lush, colorful exploration of 19th-century Florence, and a love triangle of Americans who are taking a prolonged vacation there. Middle-aged Theodore Colville falls in love with young and pretty Imogene Graham. The relationship borders on the ridiculous, but it's only when Imogene falls for a younger man that Colville calls it all off. One wonders what took him so long. The dialogue, especially when Colville is involved, crackles with wit. This is Howells's own favorite of his novels. It is extremely entertaining, one of Howells's very best books, and one of the best novels on the American bookshelf, regardless of time period.

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