Daisy Miller

Summary: Frederick Winterbourne, an American expatriate visiting at Vevey, Switzerland, meets commonplace, newly rich Mrs. Miller from Schenectady, N.Y., her mischievous small son, Randolph, and her daughter, Daisy, an "inscrutable combination of audacity and innocence." The Millers have no perception of the complex code that underlies behavior in European society, and Winterbourne is astonished at the girl's innocence and her mother's unconcern when Daisy accompanies him to the Castle of Chillon. Some months later he meets the family in Rome, where Daisy has aroused suspicion among the American colony by being seen constantly with Giovanelli, a third-rate Italian. Ostracized by former friends who think her "intrigue" has gone too far, Daisy denies to Winterbourne that she is engaged to Giovanelli. In public, Winterbourne defends her as simply uncultivated; privately, he hesitates.

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