"The Wings of the Dove" is a novel by Henry James. It tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress stricken with a serious disease, and her impact on the people around her.
Kate Croy and Merton Densher are two engaged Londoners who desperately want to marry but have very little money. Kate is constantly put upon by family troubles, and is now living with her domineering aunt, Maud Lowder. Into their world comes Milly Theale, an enormously rich young American woman who had previously met and fallen in love with Densher, though she didn't reveal her feelings.