Another in my Unnecessary Rankings series – and another of my favourite authors (and one that so much of the book blogging world loves too). I haven’t read everything by Margery Sharp by any means, but here are the 12 that I have read. And they are, of course, RANKED.
I’d love to know which you’d put top of your list, or if my rankings provoke any reaction.
12. The Nymph and the Nobleman (1932)
There’s nothing wrong with this book, and I believe it attracts fans of Anna Zinkeisen’s artwork, but it’s only 75 pages of wide margins and big text. It’s basically a fairy tale short story.
11. Lise Lillywhite (1951)
I don’t dislike this novel (I like all of Sharp’s books), but I found Lise quite a passive, uninteresting heroine and the love triangle she finds herself in between a distant relative and a Polish count a bit lacklustre. But I did enjoy all the relentless pursuit for nylons!
10. The Flowering Thorn (1934)
People often list this story of Lesley impetuously adopting a young boy among their favourite Sharps… for me, it doesn’t have the joy or wit of my favourite Sharps. It’s also curious how the boy (Pat) is so sketchily drawn and scarcely seems to have any relationship with his adoptive mother.
9. In Pious Memory (1967)
A late, short Sharp novel, In Pious Memory is about the death of Mr Prelude – and then his family wondering that he might in fact still be alive. Even late in her career, Sharp is delightfully witty and pulls the rug from under the feet of anybody with pretensions.
8. The Eye of Love (1957)
If I’m honest, I’ve just put this here because I don’t remember very much about it. Looking back at my review, it is about a couple breaking up because of their disparate stations. Dolores’s niece Martha is an impassive viewer of the central couple, used devastatingly by Sharp. I think this would be higher if I re-read it – and I need to read the others in the Martha trilogy.
7. Britannia Mews (1946)
This is Sharp in most sombre mode. We follow all of Adelaide Culver’s long life living in Britannia Mews, exiled by her family after an elopement. Over the decades that follow, we watch the streets changing fortunes and Adelaide’s evolution from a young, naive girl into someone worn down her experiences. It is a very good but surprisingly melancholy book.
6. The Foolish Gentlewoman (1948)
My first experience with Sharp – back in 2003 – after seeing it mentioned glowingly in an edition of P.G. Wodehouse letters. A wealthy widow hears a sermon about the need to expiate old sins, and tries to do so my inviting a relative, Tilly, to live with her – where a motley crew of others already live. Sharp has great fun with this fable of good turns not always working out well.
5. Four Gardens (1935)
There’s a lot to love in Four Gardens, which takes us through the life of Caroline Smith through the four gardens she develops in her life. She is a lovable, wise character and this novel is witty but also Sharp at her most poignant.
4. The Nutmeg Tree (1937)
…whereas there is nothing poignant about the irrepressible Julia and this delight of a novel. In the glorious opening scene she is in the bath to avoid bailiffs, and that’s about the most conventional thing she does. She decides she should go and see her abandoned daughter, now on the brink of adulthood, and causes well-meaning chaos as she does so. It’s a joyful novel, with a lot more nuance than you might imagine.
3. The Gipsy in the Parlour (1954)
Sharp’s novels can be very silly or very serious, and The Gipsy in the Parlour falls towards the serious end of the scale – she is absolutely brilliant at atmosphere too. The young narrator is a niece to the Sylvester family and spends her summers at their Devon farm. Over the years, she sees shifting dynamics in the family – and how everything shifts when Fanny marries into the family and very soon becomes a permanent invalid. It’s quite dark and very, very good.
2. The Stone of Chastity (1940)
But I also love Sharp when she is being ridiculous. The Stone of Chastity is about a scientist who believes he has found a village which had a stepping stone which unchaste women would slip off. And doesn’t see why he shouldn’t interview the village about their chastity, for an experiment. It’s so silly and I loved every second.
1. Cluny Brown (1944)
I think this novel might well be number one because it’s where I first fell head over heels for Sharp – if I’d read The Nutmeg Tree first, it could have made number one. Because it was the first time I discovered what Sharp could create, in terms of a lively, well-meaning, disastrous heroine. Cluny is often told by her uncle that she ‘doesn’t know her place’, and so he puts her in service as a maid in Devon. She is naturally ill-suited to it, and it’s through this comic lens that we also take in the rest of the house – from a Polish intellectual to Betty, a woman every man is besotted with and who remains unmoved by these attentions. Lady Carmel is wonderful. As I wrote in my review, ‘She manages the household beautifully. Everybody thinks her sweet and ineffectual, whereas she is sweet and effectual.’
There we have it! I’d love to know your rankings. And, for the avoidance of doubt – if I haven’t mentioned it, I haven’t read it.
One of my favourite authors – hooray! I would also have Cluny at the top. I really love Martha in The Eye of Love, and her relationships with the adults, so that would be near my top Sharps too. I haven’t read all of her but I’m determined to get to Four Gardens this year though, after it made your top books of 2022 list.
I must reacquaint myself with Martha!
My M.S. top three…
1. The Innocents. I have read this three times, it’s quite different to the others, beautifully written (as always) funny and very touching. Probably my desert island book.
2. Cluny Brown, like Simon, was my first Sharp and never to be forgotten is the excitement of finding a new author.
3. The Gipsy in the Parlour. I feel this one really marks Margery Sharp out as the consummate story teller.
I love Margery Sharp’s first lines. I don’t actually recall those in The Gipsy in the Parlour but the opening lines of The Innocents stays with me always and to an extent Cluny Brown but in a different way.
These are my top three but I have to give a mention to Something Light which was also superb and features another of her feisty but wholly likeable characters. I thought The Eye of Love was good but even better with the sequels.
Oo really good to know about The Innocents, Helen – I have that one waiting on my shelves.
Well don’t make it too long a wait, I’m very keen to hear your thoughts on this one.
I love The Innocents, too. It’s my 2nd favorite Sharp after Cluny Brown. I obviously need to find The Gipsy in the Parlor but first Four Gardens, which is already on my shelf, waiting for me.
I really need to get on with The Innocents soon!
I’ve only read four of these, although I have read other Sharps, but I would definitely put Cluny Brown first.
She is such a wonderful creation!
I’d put Cluny high up, too, and The Stone of Chastity was such fun. I THINK I’ve only read The Eye of Love out of that trilogy but I loved it and am committed to getting the others. Rhododendron Pie I loved, as I did Fanfare for Tin Trumpets.
I think for me:
1 Rhododendron Pie
2 Cluny Brown
3 The Eye of Love
4 Fanfare for Tin Trumpets
5 The Stone of Chastity
but really they’re all 1-2!
Oo love to see two there that you love and I have on my shelves.
Marvellous! You’re in for some treats, then. I’m going to put the Martha Novels high on my list of things to buy with the next book token splurge although trying to keep things down at the moment as the TBR won’t reduce!
I’ve only read three MS but definitely hope to read more. Of the three this is my ranking but I did really enjoy all of them:
1. Four Gardens – I loved the way it followed Caroline through all four seasons of life. It did not matter that I am not really into gardening or gardens as that was just the scaffolding for the story.
2. The Stone of Chastity – great fun but quite thought provoking and the right side of silliness.
3. The Foolish Gentlewoman – I did enjoy reading this despite not really liking any of the characters, which is usually a problem for me.
Yes, good point about the gardens – I know so little about gardening, but it didn’t matter.
Oh this is good!! I have Cluny Brown and Four Gardens, but I think I’m very interested in Britannia Mews, too.
I think you’d get most of her range that way, for sure
I have *blush* not read any Sharps, but thanks for your list, I have a better idea now of where to start!
She is such a wonderful author, and thankfully almost everything is findable now, after some recent reprints.
I haven’t read as many as you, but of those I have read I would probably rank them like this:
1. Britannia Mews
2. The Flowering Thorn
3. The Nutmeg Tree
4. Cluny Brown
5. Rhododendron Pie
6. Something Light
Britannia Mews is my favourite because it’s so surprisingly dark and not what I’d expected from Sharp at all, so it left a more lasting impression than her other books. I did enjoy all of them, though, even the one I ranked last!
If it was someone’s first Sharp then I think all the others would be SUCH a surprise afterwards!
I think Cluny Brown, Fanfare for Tin Trumpets, The Nutmeg Tree and The Innocents would be my favourites of the ones I’ve read. Sun in Scorpio is not mentioned here. It’s about a woman who was brought up in Malta, has to leave, and spends the rest of her life pining for life in a warm climate. It’s interesting, but wouldn’t be in my top rankings.
I do have Sun in Scorpio waiting, but I won’t race to it – The Innocents clearly needs to be my next Sharp read.
I have read 4 Sharps.
4) The Resuers. I read this too old to enjoy as a child and too young to enjoy as an adult.
3) The Foolish Gentlewoman. I did enjoy this but I remember nothing that happened.
1) Cluny Brown
1) Britannia Mews
I cannot rank one more highly than the other because I enjoyed them for such reasons. Cluny Brown was so frothy and silly whereas Mews is much more serious but the reason I loved Mews is because I fel it was a brilliant depiction of an asexual marriage. I was blown away by that.
That’s an interesting perspective on it, yes.
I really must read more Margery Sharp, as I have only read five of those in your list. In Pious Memory and The Gipsy in the Parlour would be among my favourites, I also thought Something Light was fun.
I’m looking forward to Something Light, as I’ve heard such good things from you and others.
Oh dear. I have read a number of Sharp’s novels for adults and think I have loved all that I’ve read. But I came to her as a child through The Rescuers and the rest of the Bernard and Miss Bianca books, and those will will probably always be my favorites. It’s where I learned about Moot Halls and cream cheese. What could be better? Except, of course, her style and elegant language.
I haven’t read any of her children’s books, but I’m glad they’ve left such a good impression!
The Gipsy in the Parlour is my favourite, then The Nutmeg Tree, then The Innocents.