The Tigress On The Hearth

Hugo Lutterwell, the innocent abroad, is the perfect foil for a Margery Sharp comedy. He has bumbled himself into a potentially deadly situation, and is about to be rescued in a most unconventional way.

The Nymph and the Nobleman

‘It may be the moon had something to do with it.’ This novelette, like a Pavlova pastry, crisp on the outside, all soft and melting on the inside, goes well with an afternoon cup of tea and a sweet sprinkling of thoughtful reflections. One of the earliest of Sharp’s works, The Nymph and the Nobleman was later…

Lise Lillywhite

‘When Charles Blagden Lillywhite, born in Somerset, 1873, resident in France since 1900, finally returned to England in 1946, the news of his repatriation did not arouse any strong family enthusiasm. ‘In company with the old man came a daughter, Amélie, and a grand-daughter, Lise….’ The reason for old Charles Lillywhite’s return to his…

Three Companion Pieces

This book is an anthology of three novelettes. Although publishing dates and editions vary, they are all early works. You can read more detail about each story on their own page: Sophy Cassmajor The Nymph and the Nobleman The Tigress on the Hearth Sophy Cassmajor (1934) and The Nymph and the Nobleman (1932) were published individually…

Very Much Alive

In terms of wish fulfillment, this was a good one. I was finally able to procure a copy of the 1942 original story Very Much Alive, with accompanying artwork. (There is no name given for the artist.) The extremely likable short story, Mr. Hamble’s Bear, which I wrote about here, was first published under the title Very Much…

The Stone of Chastity

“It seems there was once a stepping stone in the little village of Gillenham…” Ah, the charming English country village! What could seem more benign, more cheerful, more comforting as a place to reside—in our imaginations? ‘Not so fast’, Margery Sharp seems to be telling us, when she took up her writer’s pen and wrote…

The Nutmeg Tree

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.

Mr. Hamble’s Bear

A lonely second hand furniture dealer–Mr. Hamble–buys a large stuffed bear and ends up loaning it out for increasingly high profile social events. The bear’s social life and popularity soon begins to spiral out of control. He becomes the toast of London–and, in the process, breaks Mr. Hamble’s heart.

‘So Absurdly Young’

‘She dismissed eternity with a movement of her shoulder.’ (from Fanfare for Tin Trumpets) When Margery Sharp began to write for publication, she showed the usual girlish enthusiasm that young women have for fashions, trends, young men, film stars, and hairstyles. Oh, yes. Hair. The decade was the 1920’s, and we know what that means–Gatsby…

Sophy Cassmajor

‘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…