After her parents' bitter divorce young Maisie Farange finds herself turned into a 'little feathered shuttlecock' to be swatted back and forth by her selfish mother Ida and her vain father Beale who value her only as a means of provoking one another. And when both take lovers and remarry Maisie-solitary observant and wise beyond her years- is drawn into an entangled adult world of intrigue and sexual betrayal until she is finally compelled to choose her own future. Published in 1897 when Henry James was becoming increasingly experimental with narrative technique and fascinated by the idea of the child's-eye view What Maisie Knew is a subtle intricate yet devastating portrayal of an innocent adrift in a corrupt society.