Henry James was an American-British author, regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism. He 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. 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.

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 also 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. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges remarked, "I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."