by Henry James
adapted for radio in two parts by D.G. Bridson

In his notebooks, Henry James wrote of an older man expressing regret to a young friend: 'live all you can, it's a mistake not to ... I haven't done so - and now I'm old. It's too late ... You have time. You are young. Live!' This anecdote was the germ of what was to become "The Ambassadors".
Lewis Lambert Strether, the hero of the story, also grows to feel the same regret. He has been sent to Paris by Mrs Newsome, a well-to-do widow in Woollett, Massachusetts, to bring home her son. If Strether succeeds, he will marry Mrs Newsome. But the sophistication and beauty of Europe and its society creates a shimmering web of mystery for Strether, the first of Mrs Newsome's 'ambassadors'.

(Repeated: Sun 2.30 pm)
(Part 2: next Monday)
(Stereo)