Alice James was a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 diarist. The only daughter of Henry James, Sr. and sister of philosopher William James

William James

William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...

 and novelist Henry James

Henry James

Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....

, she is known mainly for the posthumously published diary

Diary

A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...

 that she kept in her final years.
Born into a wealthy and intellectually active family, Alice James soon developed the psychological and physical problems that would end her life at age 43.