novel in favor of the infinitely more substantial and impressive Roderick Hudson. While Nora gets kudos as a pleasant enough ingénue, the other characters are forgettable and the plot is too often silly. James did revise Watch and Ward for book publication in 1878, so he wasn't completely ashamed of it at that point in his career. But he dropped the novel from his 1883 collective edition and soon seemed to want to forget about it completely. References The Novels of Henry James by Edward Wagenknecht (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1983) The Novels of Henry James by Oscar Cargill (New York: Macmillan Co., 1961) External links Original magazine publication of Watch and Ward (1871) Variorum edition of 1871 magazine and 1878 book versions of Watch and Ward 1875 British novels 1875 American novels Novels by Henry James Novels first published in serial form Works originally published in The Atlantic (magazine) Novels about orphans 1875 debut novels