The Master

by Colm Tóibín

As Rome became more modern, he wrote to Paul Bourget, he himself became increasingly antique.

“I traveled in Ireland a number of times,” he said. “And I do believe that England has much to answer for in the way the country has been run.”

“It is very difficult for anyone in their lives,” Henry began, “to make leaps into the dark. Isabel’s going to Europe from Albany, leaving all her family behind, and then against everyone’s advice and her own better judgment marrying Osmond, were leaps into the dark. Making such leaps requires us to be brave and determined, but doing so also may freeze any other possibilities. It is easier to renounce bravery rather than to be brave over and over. It could not, in her case, be done again. The will and the nerve needed for such actions do not come to us often, any of us, least of all Isabel Archer from Albany.”