The ambassadors is a 1903 novel by henry james, originally published as a serial in the north american review (nar). The novel is a dark comedy which follows the trip of protagonist lewis lambert strether to europe in pursuit of chad newsome, his widowed fiancée's supposedly wayward son; he is to bring the young man back to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications. The third-person narrative is told exclusively from strether's point of view.