As The Europeans opens, Eugenia and Felix, the "Europeans" of the title, are in Boston. Recently her marriage to a German prince has come apart, and she and her brother Felix are visiting relatives in the countryside near Boston, looking to arrange a wealthy second marriage for Eugenia. It's a satire on a certain level -- a masterly short novel (well, short for James) that shows what Rebecca West calles James's "clear sunlit charm"; for good reason it's become one of James's most popular novels.