The Foolish Gentlewoman by Margery Sharp ~ 1948. This edition: Little, Brown & Co., 1948. Hardcover. 330 pages.
One of my absolute favourite writers is, as many of you know by now, Margery Sharp, 1905-1991, and today, January 25, is (or was) her birthday.
Which calls for celebration in the way of reading one (or more) of her books, and sharing some thoughts on that reading with fellow like-minded readers. And those who we hope will become like-minded Margery Sharp aficionados, of course!
I didn’t think I would manage a post tonight, having just now finished reading the book in question, but my daughter has made me a restorative cup of tea and I have found a breath of a second wind, so let’s see what I can do. It may be a bit of a muddle, but I hope it communicates my high regard for the novel and its creator.
Isabel Brocken, a comfortably well-off widow of fifty-five, has something on her mind.
Blithe by nature – so blithe as to be thought of as something of a fool by her staunchly bachelor brother-in-law Simon, who manages her affairs – Isabel has been a cheerful sort of person no matter what life has brought her way. She has taken in stride the upsets of and volunteered as a VAD in two wars, has accepted quietly the disappointment of not having any children, and has gently mourned the death of her husband, not to mention the loss of her beloved marital home to a German bomb.
Luckily Isabel has held on to her own old family home all of these years, much against Simon’s advice, so she is perhaps the tiniest bit smug to be able to offer a bed to Simon after his own house is badly damaged in one of the last bombing raids of the war.
Also in residence are Isabel’s recently de-mobbed nephew Humphrey from New Zealand, and an ex-Seargent in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, Jacqueline Brown, who is acting as a housekeeper-companion to Isabel. A quiet mother and her devoted teenage daughter reside in a separate set of rooms and share cooking facilities with Isabel and her menage; hired as caretakers during the war, they are staying on to help with housework and such.
Everyone is getting along peacefully; the groove is well set; but, as I mentioned just now, Isabel has something on her mind, something which will disturb the peace of her home and everyone in it.
It seems that Isabel has, on one of her infrequent visits to church, caught a line of a sermon to the effect that it was a common error to suppose that the passage of time made a base action any less bad. Now, this line had struck like an arrow straight to the tender heart of Isabel, and in doing so had triggered the memory of a very base act which she had performed against another young woman many years ago.
Almost forty years ago, orphaned Tilly Cuff had been invited into Isabel’s family home in the capacity of a low-key sort of companion. She is treated as one of the family, but all sorts of little tasks fall to her lot; she is expected to make herself useful in return for her room and board, as it were, and this she does in a subdued sort of way. Tilly is a thin, pale shadow of the much more vivacious Isabel and her sister Ruth, and they patronize her without really realizing it, keeping her well in her place, just a step back.
When a visiting young man falls in love with the unprepossessing Tilly, Isabel by a a random chance finds herself possessed of a letter proposing marriage to Tilly. Deeply piqued, for she thought the young man was falling in love with her, Isabel suppresses the letter, politely taunts Tilly with an accusation of being over-flirtatious to warn her away from her potential lover, and the budding love affair withers on the vine.
Soon after this Tilly accepts a paid position as a companion to an invalid heading to Switzerland, and she and Isabel part ways, never to meet again, though they correspond occasionally through the years.
Now, four decades later, Isabel is visited by an attack of conscience triggered by that sermon, and she proposes to make amends for Tilly’s lost chance at marital happiness by rescuing her from her dreary round of temporary homes and tedious duties by bringing Tilly into her home.
Not only that, Isabel resolves to make over to Tilly the majority of her fortune, keeping just enough to eke out a humble existence, to prevent herself from becoming a burden to friends and relations.
Needless to say Simon is appalled by the very thought of this proposal, as are Humphrey and Jacqueline, but Isabel is not to be dissuaded.
Tilly is invited, she accepts the invitation, and moves in bag and baggage, cherishing in her heart a deep suspicion of Isabel’s motives in inviting her, for Isabel has not yet divulged her intention of reparations for that long ago bad deed.
Tilly turns out to be a true viper in the nest; she is openly meddlesome and secretly vicious by nature, and she immediately stirs up trouble among every member of the household. Even the forgiving Isabel starts to have qualms as to carrying through with her intention to give over her assets to the bitter Tilly. While Isabel tries to retain her idea that Tilly is, deep inside, a truly good person, evidence is much to the contrary.
What should Isabel do, then? The right thing for the once-wronged Tilly, or the thing that is the best for the most people?
Isabel’s decision and the ramifications of it bring this richly charactered novel to an unexpected conclusion. No one escapes unaltered, though the changes are not as we might in some cases expect.
The Foolish Gentlewoman is satisfyingly good the first time round, but as with all of Margery Sharp’s books, it greatly rewards re-reading.
My rating: an easy 9/10.
I am scanning in two pages from early in the book, so you can have a sample of the tone and mood in this gently sardonic and rather moving novel.
I think this was the first Margery Sharp novel a few years ago, I loved it. Tilly is such a well drawn (horrible)character!
Oh, she’s dreadful! And that is the brilliance of her portrayal, that and the fact that the author is absolutely up front about that while at the same time quietly showing us why she is that way.
This was my introduction to Margery Sharp, and I did enjoy it very much, though I found myself a bit frustrated myself with Isabel. And I thought Simon got a much happier ending than he deserved!
Ah, yes. Simon’s lucky escape from being bogged down in pesky human relationships… And yes, I think we all find ourselves deeply frustrated with Isabel – “Don’t do it! Noooo!” we silently shout at her the whole way through. 😉 🙂
Oh. Golly. I have this very edition on my shelves, tucked between Brideshead Revisited and I Capture the Castle. And I still haven’t read it.
It’s a sign.
Many books on my shelves still wait to be read. This time last year, my local library shut down for a month, so I took the opportunity to dip into my neglected TBR shelves. Now, I clearly must do so again (right after I head off to the library this morning to pick up two holds: Iona Wishaw & Aline Templeton).
Well, I did just read O. Douglas’s Pink Sugar, from the same shelf, so I’m progressing.
I tried to avoid reading too much of the review in case there were spoilers. Ah, but it was futile. Still, I know I’m going to enjoy this anyway. And then perhaps Cluny Brown. And Britannia Mews.
Thanks for the nudge.
(Oh wait, my edition is Collins, Toronto, 1948, but looks exactly the same, except the font of the chapter heading on page 30. The front flap is stamped with “book club edition”)
Susan. Read it. (I left out an awful lot in my posting; there will be many surprises. 🙂 )
I can already tell I’m going to spend much of this book wanting to shake Isabel but it sounds excellent so is obviously going onto the TBR list!
Yes, Isabel defines “shakeable”. I do hope you enjoy this one; there are still a fine array of Margery Sharps awaiting your reading pleasure. You may also revisit your previous “dud” reading experience with her once you fall under her spell and are tuned in to her deliciously dry sense of humour. The Flowering Thorn which I know you have just read and liked is one of her very best, but even the B list is full of things to appreciate.
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Oh this is a wonderful book: seemingly so light, but beautifully structured with all kinds of hidden secrets and strands (and terrific clothes). Her portrayal of the hideous Tilly is genius, and those uncomfortable mealtime conversations… Now I want to read it again.
Definitely one which rewards re-reading. I was lukewarm to it the first time I read it; next time round I was so much more into it. There is a lot going on there, isn’t there?
I don’t think I will ever tire of re-reading Margery Sharp. I’m sad that I have no more to read for the first time, though I did manage to obtain an old magazine with a new-to-me novella in it. Cosmopolitan, 1943, with the novella being titled No Turning Back. It was worth the effort to track down; I am tempted to hunt down some more of these old magazines with MS content, though it’s a rather costly sort of game.