Margery Sharp was a sincere admirer of Jane Austen’s novels. ‘One of the great delights of Miss Austen’s works,’ she writes, ‘is that one can read and re-read them indefinitely, always making fresh discoveries.’ Emma was Sharp’s idea of a perfect novel. Yet one ‘fresh discovery’ Margery Sharp made, while re-reading Emma, surprised her a…
The Nutmeg Tree was first published in 1937. It is probably the first of Margery Sharp’s novels that made her work a commercial success.
For good reason. It is a marvelous piece of storytelling that also happens to be extremely funny.
‘Not cold but everlastingly here lives The rapture of the lover and the maid; Here Timelessness with Time’s limbs no more strives But sleeps, a song sounding though never played.’ W.J. Turner, Epitaph * * * * * * * “It’s not cowardly to wish to live, Alice. It’s the very reverse of cowardly….Think of…
Margery Sharp referred to Jane Austen several times in her novels, and admired her exceedingly. I refer you to this interview conducted back in October, 1963. (Counterpoint, Roy Newquist, published 1964, Rand McNally & Co.) Margery Sharp was asked by Roy Newquist ‘What would you still like to accomplish that you haven’t already done?’ Her…
