My first read for November proved to be a small delight. Sent to me just a day or two earlier by blogger Madam Bibi Lophile – I knew immediately it was the perfect read for my first week back at work after half term, when I was still not that well. Coming in at 160 pages I decided I could claim it as my first read for Novellas in November.
Margery Sharp was a prolific writer, writing for both children and adults over a period of more than forty years. In Pious Memory was published a little later into that career after she had already published around twenty novels for adults as well as several for children.
I am a long way from being an expert on Margery Sharp novels – this is just the sixth I have read – yet for pure enjoyment I must declare it a good one. Perhaps not her best – some lacklustre reviews of Goodreads didn’t put me off – but this is subtle and funny and in the self-deception of several main characters seems to be vintage Sharp. She is one of those writers who beautifully understands the utter absurdity of human beings, she has an ear for their voices and recreates their little foibles to perfection.
The novel opens with Mrs Prelude sat in the tail of the aeroplane that was taking her and her international banking expert husband home from Geneva. It was the one little bit of independence Mrs Prelude insisted on sticking with – she always sat in the tail of the plane – even when her husband couldn’t sit with her. So, when the plane crashes into the Alps – Mrs Prelude is given rather a severe shaking, but her husband – not sat in the tail – is killed. It is in a dazed blur that Mrs Prelude identifies her husband’s body before her son arrives to escort her home. Here there is a funeral to be arranged, a will to be read – and Mrs Prelude still in shock begins to have doubts.
What if she had made a mistake in the identification? What if the dead body she hastily identified wasn’t Arthur at all? Her grown up children William and Elizbeth soothe her as best they can – convincing with the help of a little white lie – that yes of course it was their father. However, their younger sister, sixteen year old Lydia’s imagination is fired up by the idea of her father still being alive. He could be wandering the Alps still, his memory gone, sleeping in a peasant’s hut – in need of help.
By this time the reader has learned all they need to know about Arthur Prelude – international banking expert. His wife had been utterly devoted – but had lived in her husband’s shadow – trailing after him around the world, from international conference to international conference. She listened proudly as others extolled his genius to her – but she never heard his speeches herself – as she was always busy in the hotel bedroom cleaning his portable inhaling-apparatus.
“Besides the inhaling-apparatus and the methylated-spirit stove the Preludes’ luggage regularly included two special anti-asthma pillows and a supply of special yoghurt to be deposited in the hotel refrigerator immediately upon arrival. What with Arthur’s equally indispensable dinner-jacket and tails there would have been excess baggage to pay, if Mrs Prelude put in evening dress and wrap. Fortunately she didn’t need to; one thin silk dress (for Rome) or of light-weight wool (Stockholm) sufficed, and Arthur was very understanding when she had to buy an umbrella at The Hague.”
As the bereaved gather to mourn the dear departed we begin to see the reason for the title. Suddenly, as the talk turns to Arthur’s virtues and accomplishments they all begin, bit by bit to actually change the man he really was in their memories of him. The man who rushed outside in fury to stop the children’s bonfire – is now the father who rushed outside to enjoy the thrill of fireworks and a bonfire with his children, and he is now the man who on meeting his son’s fiancé for the first time, kissed her fondly on the cheek.
“It was quite surprising how much they remembered. Elizabeth, down for the weekend, and alerted by her brother, was particularly fertile in sympathetic anecdotes. ‘Don’t you remember how pleased and proud he was, Mother,’ prompted Elizabeth ‘when I made my first speech at the Union?’ ‘I thought we were in Holland,’ said Mrs Prelude. ‘Yes, but how pleased and proud he was to hear about it afterwards!’ said Elizabeth hastily. ‘Don’t you remember.’”
Once the funeral is over – and things start getting back to normal – Lydia and her cousin Toby decide to head off for the Alps on a couple of bicycles to find Arthur Prelude – who must be desperate for rescue by now. The resulting trip is naturally a mad cap one with one disaster after another – which include a stolen bicycle – an encounter with a strange group of partying Hooray Henry types at a chateau – and a French con man.
Meanwhile back at home, Mrs Prelude seems to be blissfully unaware that there are at least a couple of men, who having thought Arthur Prelude a very lucky man indeed – are now lining themselves up to be Mrs Prelude’s second husband.
This was such a fun little read – the kind of book I would quite have liked to be a bit longer. Sharp by name and sharp by nature – In Pious Memory is deliciously sly which I read with a smile all the way through.
This sounds a treat. I’d like to think her first marriage was a prelude to a better better one!
Yes, I would like to think that too. It’s certainly what’s hinted at.
Oh this sounds wonderful, Ali, and such a lot to pack into 160pp! I love her sly humour – that second quote is so Sharp and makes me keen to add this to my Sharp shelves.
I understand you wanting to find a copy. I really hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
I really enjoyed the Margery Sharp short story that was included in the Virago WW2 anthology Wave Me Goodbye and have been meaning to try one of her novels every since. Sharply observed fiction about the foibles and absurdities of human nature sounds right up my street, so I’ll continue to keep an eye out for her in the charity shops!
Yes, that short story was a good one. I love the way she portrayes deluded and absurd characters, she manages to inject some warmth into her sly humour I think. I hope you find one of her books in your charity shop hunts.
Thanks for this Ali. I love Margery Sharp, but hadn’t heard of this novel, so another one for the to-be -bought list!
I hadn’t heard of it until MadamB offered me her duplicate copy. I recommend looking out for it.
So glad you enjoyed this Ali! I really must get my copy down and read it 🙂 You’ve definitely inspired me to do so as this sounds delightful.
Thank you again, I will look forward to hearing what you think when you get round to reading it.
Oh, how marvellous, Ali! Not a Sharp I know, but it sounds absolutely glorious – she does indeed have a wonderful sense of humour which lives up to her name!
She does have a wonderful sense of humour, and she is indeed a sharp observer of people.
I haven’t read any Sharp but I’m very tempted, reading with a smile on your face is wonderful!
It was the perfect read for those few days,and it was a real pleasure. Margery Sharp is well worth looking out for though.
This does sound truly delightful! A perfect candidate for BLWW or Dean Street to reissue too.
It was delightful. Definitely a good fit for Dean Street Press who already publish some Margery Sharp.
This sounds excellent, what a good idea for a novel and what a perfect author to write it!
She was the perfect writer to have written this one. It was a lovely start to this month’s reading.
So thanks to your lovely moved-house-unpacked-books post, now I am imagining that this one lives in the cabinet above your desk with the glass doors? I need to know.
Yes, you’re quite right that’s exactly where this one lives now.
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