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]

Cluny Brown
First edition
AuthorMargery Sharp
PublishedAugust 1944
Collins (UK)
Little Brown (US)
Pages270

Plot summary

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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

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  • 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

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Films

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

Comic strip

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

References

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  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

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