Dos relatos conforman esta edición: - 'Compañeros de viaje'. El narrador y protagonista de esta historia es Mr. Brooke, un estadounidense en viaje de turismo por Italia. En Milán se encuentra con un compatriota, Mark Evans, que viaja acompañado de su hija Charlotte, una joven de gran encanto. Enseguida Brooke se siente atraído por ella. A lo largo del tour los dos tienen ocasión de contemplar algunas obras maestras de los artistas italianos y de reflexionar acerca del arte y de la vida. En Venecia, Brooke decide desvelar sus sentimientos hacia ella, mientras Charlotte prefiere reservarse los suyos. El viaje prosigue, pero un embarazoso incidente durante una excursión dará un giro inesperado a la historia, cuya conclusión no tendrá lugar hasta llegar a Roma. - 'Historia de una obra maestra'. John Lennox, un viudo rico y distinguido se halla prometido a Marian Everett, una joven hermosa y casadera. Un día, Lennox conoce al pintor Charles Baxter, que está terminando el retrato de una mujer cuyas facciones poseen un curioso parecido con los de su prometida. Baxter reconoce que el retrato está inspirado en Miss Everett, con la que trabó amistad en un viaje por Italia. Lennox le propone a Baxter que le haga un retrato a su prometida y este acepta. Una vez terminado, Lennox se da cuenta de que el retrato va más allá del parecido físico, que hay ciertos rasgos de carácter de Marian que reflejan una personalidad desconocida para él y que, en cierto modo, le inquieta.
Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James. He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting. His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner". James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."