An authorized American edition was finally put out that fall by Harper's, which also sold well. Because James failed to secure the American rights to the work right away, Daisy Miller was pirated by periodicals in Boston ( Living Age) and New York ( Home Journal) that same summer.

After being initially rejected by an American publisher, the novel was originally published as Daisy Miller: A Study in two parts by a British periodical, the Cornhill Magazine, in the summer of 1878. James also had a free-spirited cousin, Minny Temple, who, though dead for several years, was an inspiration for Daisy and many of his early female heroines.ĭaisy Miller was written early in 1878 while James was living in London. Because of their poor social choice, the mother and daughter suffered social outfall and were ostracized by other Americans living in the city. The mother allowed her daughter to befriend a Roman man, whom she introduced to new friends they met in the city. In the fall of 1877, he heard a story in Rome about a somewhat ignorant, unknowing American mother new to the ways of Europe.

James had two significant inspirations for the tale he told in Daisy Miller. The short novel established James's reputation as an author on both sides of the Atlantic, and he went on to further explore complex women in such celebrated novels as The Portrait of a Lady (1881). It remains one of the most popular books written by author Henry James. Exploring the conflict between concepts at the heart of the American dream-personal freedom and the social limitation others want to place on that freedom- Daisy Miller was a smashing success when originally published in 1878.

Daisy Miller by Henry James