Novella a Day in May: Days 18 and 19

Day 18: The Nymph and the Nobleman (1932) by Margery Sharp

When I was in Hay-on-Wye last year, I stumbled across The Nymph and the Nobleman, one of Margery Sharp’s first books. And – gasp – signed by Margery Sharp! And all for £5. Of course, I snapped it up straight away.

It’s a very slight work, only 75 pages – and quite a few of those are full-page illustrations by Anna Zinkeisen. The story is of a bashful member of the English aristocracy, Sir George Blount, who falls in love at first sight with a beautiful dancer he encounters in Paris. He speaks little French and she speaks little English – but she is ready enough to assent to an assignation that will take place over several days. It’s quite a coup to rush off to England with a gentleman, and she will have stories to tell when she returns to her fellow dancers. What she doesn’t realise is that Sir George is extremely honourable, and he has asked her to be his wife…

She was not used to it. She was used to the scramble of dressing, the bustle of rehearsal, the crowning excitement of the evening’s performance. She was used to fifteen companions of her own age, each with a lover or two, and a maitre-de-ballet who never stopped swearing. It saddened her, on rising, to find that no one had got up earlier and borrowed her stockings. Even a shoe out of place would be something to look for, but the new maid shut them all into a wooden press: her character had been approved by the dowager, and she never saw anything on the floor without immediately picking it up.

As you can see, if you know and love Sharp like I do, the slightly dry writing is certainly recognisable. This is a fable, of sorts, and the tone softens what might otherwise be a slightly saccharine story. But Sharp can’t put a foot wrong. This is a minor work, but an enjoyable one to spend an hour so with.

Day 19: The House (1938) by William McElwee

I love any story where a house is prominent, and the cover of this is a pretty accurate representation of the sort of house at the centre of the book.

The first impression made by the house on a sensitive visitor was one of happiness. It had charm and, in certain aspects, even beauty. But the charm and the beauty were of the kind which grows with more intimate knowledge. They did not assault the senses with an insistent demand for admiration, but waited quietly to be discovered. Everything about it was essentially unpretentious. Nobody had lavished on external appearances that constant attention which can make a house as tiresome and boring to live with as a society beauty. The gardens were care for, but not too well; they suggested the haphazard efforts of generations rather than the carefully laid design of one landscape gardener. Certain flowers grew in particular beds not because they could be the most effective where they were, but because they always had been planted there; and most of the trees stood where they did because, at some time or other, they had contrived to grow unnoticed to such a size that it had seemed a shame to cut them down.

That’s the opening paragraph, and exactly the sort of opening I want from a novel(la). Domestic, the slightest amount of whimsy, and plenty of down-to-earthness alongside. There are a few more pages setting up this lovely home. And into this scene comes the unnamed protagonist – a tramp, looking for any opportunity for food or some paid work. He is nearing 50, and came from a middle-class background but has steadily had bad luck for so long that he has hit rock bottom. But is firmly moral, and is determined never to end up at a police station, or do anything that could warrant police attention.

But he does end up going through a window into the house – because, gloriously, a cat turns up and expects to be let in and fed. I’m biased, but I always want plots to be propelled by a cat. He/she was great, and I’m sad that we didn’t see that much of him/her.

Having once got in, the man goes through a series of decisions that end up with him staying in the house and eating food from the larder. As he spends more time there, he learns about the family from their portraits and belongings. He becomes to want to know more and more about them.

I thought this was all brilliant. The second half of the novella worked a little less well for me – when he becomes obsessed with the son of the family, a man who looks (from pictures) to be in his early 20s, and a poet. McElwee creates many sonnets for this young man, and the tramp learns about his emotional trajectory through them. The poetry is mercifully good, and I certainly didn’t mind reading this, but I’m not sure it’s the direction I’d have taken the story – it felt less compelling then just seeing the tramp gradually change as he lived in the house. As it is, I was really impressed by how vital McElwee could make a book which, for almost all of it’s 191 pages, the tramp is the only human in the story.

10 thoughts on “Novella a Day in May: Days 18 and 19

  • May 19, 2022 at 10:18 pm
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    That’s a find just for the Zinkeisen illustrations. Really like both Doris and Anna’s work a lot.

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    • May 26, 2022 at 9:08 pm
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      The previous owner obviously agreed – a Noel Streatfeild dustjacket illustrated by Zinkeisen was tucked in the front.

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  • May 20, 2022 at 7:33 am
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    Oh these both sound excellent, well picked! Also glad the cat is presumably OK. I am still trying to find out if the cat in Derry Girls makes it through to the end of the series so I can watch programmes 2 onwards …!

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  • May 20, 2022 at 5:48 pm
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    75 pages, signed by MS herself and £5? All too good to miss, what a find!

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    • May 26, 2022 at 9:08 pm
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      I know, it was one of those pinch-me moments in the bookshop!

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  • May 20, 2022 at 9:06 pm
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    I agree TN&TN is a minor Sharp but still enjoyable! Signed too – what a bargain.

    I’ve not heard of your second choice at all but it sounds quite delightful. The second half does seem a bit of an odd direction to go in though!

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  • May 22, 2022 at 2:18 pm
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    So many of your reviews, Simon, make me wish that I had paid more attention to the dusty hardcovers with torn covers that I overlooked in used bookstores for so many years. I would always gravitate toward the shiny lightly-used literary fiction. Now there are almost no used bookstores and no place to find these treasures! I’m so grateful for Furrowed Middlebrow, Persephone and your British Library editions.

    P.S. Thanks to your recommendation, I am nearly finished reading O, the Brave Music. What a lovely novel.

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    • May 26, 2022 at 9:07 pm
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      Hah! Yes, always frustrating to wonder what we’ve all left behind on the shelves…

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  • May 23, 2022 at 10:44 am
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    The opening paragraph of The House is enticing, indeed. Its tone and topic reminds me of some of Elizabeth Goudge’s works.

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    • May 26, 2022 at 9:07 pm
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      Yes, I recently read The Scent of Water, and can definitely see similarities.

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