In the grand halls of the British aristocracy, a quiet crisis is brewing. Widowed Lord Theign, burdened by his daughter Kitty’s mounting gambling debts, prepares to do the unthinkable: sell his prized Sir Joshua Reynolds masterpiece, ‘The Duchess of Waterbridge’ – to the formidable American billionaire Breckenridge Bender.
At the heart of the conflict are art critic Hugh Crimble, who believes that a nation’s masterpieces are its soul, and Theign’s other daughter, the spirited Lady Grace, torn between her conscience and her loyalty to her father.
As the press fans the flames of indignation and a patriotic outcry begins to swell, Crimble uncovers a dusty, overlooked canvas in Theign’s collection – a lost masterpiece by the enigmatic Mantovano. Can this single discovery change the fate of the family’s legacy?
A gem of Henry James’s late period, The Outcry (originally conceived as a play) is a sharp, sophisticated comedy of manners about the value of heritage, the price of honour, and the enduring power of art. It is James at his most accessible and witty.