The Landlord at Lion's Head is a novel by American writer William Dean Howells.
Jeff Durgin, the youngest son of the family, caters to Mr. Westover, who scolds him for scaring the nearby Whitwell children, Cynthia and Frank, with his dog.
The small country house has been renovated and expanded, and the Inn at Lion's Head is a huge success.
Once more, Mr. Westover spends the summer at Lion's head; Jeff arrives back from Europe on the same ship as wealthy Mrs. Vostrand and her daughter Genivieve.
He returns to Lion's Head and is soon engaged to Cynthia, who Westover believes is far too fine for a blackguard like Jeff.
Jeff tells his mother that he is content with being the Landlord at Lion's Head; she disapproves of both his low ambitions and his engagement to Cynthia.
Jackson, Jeff's eldest brother, falls ill and is sent to Egypt for the winter to try to regain his health.
Although Jeff no longer has plans to become a lawyer, Cynthia and Mrs. Durgin insist that he return to Harvard for his final year.
Invited to an exclusive tea party, Jeff meets Bessie Lynde, an upper-class girl who finds him attractive.
Forgetting Cynthia, Jeff begins courting Bessie Lynde, but soon realizes that she is just out for adventure.
On his graduation day from Harvard, Alan Lynde attacks him with a whip, injuring him badly.
Jackson returns from Egypt but he is still extremely ill. Westover takes him to Lion's Head immediately and then writes to Jeff, who joins them.
Westover hears that Genivieve has married, but has divorced because her husband beat her and treated her badly.
She then meets Jeff Durgin in Europe and the two are engaged, but Mrs. Vostrand wants Westover's opinion before she approves the marriage.
They marry, and, with Genivieve's daughter Bice, purchase the Whitwell's house and rebuild the Inn at Lion's Head.
Cynthia Whitwell is a beautiful, smart, young woman who has enabled Jeff to get through school and into Harvard.
At a young age she had to act as the woman of her house because of the death of her mother and practically raised her little brother Frank.
He is older and works for the inn by taking the women out on nature walks and teaching them of the different plants.
Unlike Howells' other works, by the end of the novel Jeff Durgin achieves success, starting a renaissance hotel and marrying Genivieve whom he had been pursuing for a while.
Howells, a realist writer, usually does not have the protagonist succeed in the end of the novel and strays from his normal schema in this respect.
The Canadians took offense to the character Jombateeste—the undersized tree chopper—and believe Howells has a misconception of the weather in Canada.
[2] Susan Allan Toth recognizes The Landlord at Lion's Head as "The most neglected and misrepresented of all William Dean Howells' major novels".
The major aspect of the story modern scholars focus on is the characterization of Jeff Durgin.
Toth mentions "Westover's illusions seem to be those of a man who desperately wants to believe in a society in which he has struggled long and hard for acceptance; he clings to his faith like a convert."
The success of Jeff Durgin at the end of the novel is trying to depict the world heading in an "anti-puritan" direction.