Cluny Brown (novel)

Cluny Brown

First edition
Author	Margery Sharp
Published	August 1944 Collins (UK) Little Brown (US)
Pages	270

Cluny Brown is a humorous coming of age novel by Margery Sharp,[1] published in August 1944 by Collins in the UK and Little Brown in the US. [2]

Plot summary

The story follows the escapades of a plumber's niece, Cluny Brown, who is twenty years old in England in 1938. Cluny has high spirits and a constant desire for expansion of experience that leads the more staid members of her community to question whether she knows her place. As a consequence of one final London based excursion of discovery outside the bounds of what Cluny's mentors consider proper, she is sent off into good service at a charming country residence known as Friars Carmel to be a Tall Parlour Maid. The coincidental simultaneous arrivals of the young son and heir of the house, a mysterious Polish professor, and a beautiful socialite add complexity to this adventurous tale of a young woman following her dreams and finding her personal freedom in the tumultuous early 20th century.

Characters

• Clover 'Cluny' Brown, fearless adventurer and Tall Parlour Maid
• Andrew Frewen, heir to Friars Carmel
• Lady Alice Carmel, mistress of Friars Carmel
• Sir Henry Carmel, baronet of Friars Carmel
• Mr. Wilson, the neighborhood chemist
• Adam Belinski, distinguished Pole of letters
• Elizabeth 'Betty' Cream, London socialite
• Hilda Brewer, house maid
• Mr. Porritt, Cluny's plumber uncle
• Syrette, valet

Adaptations

Films

The story was adapted into a 1946 film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch. [3]

Comic strip

In 1945 Wallace Morgan created a newspaper comic adaptation of Cluny Brown.[4]

References

1. "Margery Sharp.com".
2. "Library of Congress Catalog Info".
3. "Cluny Brown Film Review". Slant Magazine. 20 December 2010.
4. "Wallace Morgan – Lambiek Comiclopedia".

Book reviews

• A Work In Progress
• Bibliolathas
• Another look book