Cluny Brown

A Novel

By: Margery Sharp

Narrated by: Anna Parker-Naples

Cluny Brown refuses to know her place in society. Last week, she took herself to tea at the Ritz. Then she spent almost an entire day in bed eating oranges. So, to teach her discipline, her uncle, a plumber who has raised the orphaned girl since she was a baby, sends her into service as a parlor maid at one of England's stately manor houses.

At Friars Carmel in Devonshire, Cluny meets her employers: Sir Henry, the quintessential country squire, and Lady Carmel, who oversees the management of her home with unruffled calm. Their son, Andrew, newly returned from abroad with a Polish emigre writer friend, is certain the country is once again on the brink of war. Then there's Andrew's beautiful fiancee and the priggish town pharmacist.

While everyone around her struggles to keep pace with a rapidly changing world, Cluny continues to be Cluny, transforming those around her with her infectious zest for life.

©1944 Margery Sharp (P)2018 Tantor

CUTE STORY

Totally enjoyed this entertaining story with a surprising twist at the end. The narrator was good also, love the verity of characters also.

Delightful novel

This is a delightful novel. The reading by Anna Parker-Bowles is superb. My strongest recommendation.

SPOILED BY THE NARRATOR

I love this book. I have read it many many times, and, although the sample I heard wasn't as fine as I could have liked, I got the book anyway and thought, as with other audio books, that even with an iffy narrator, I could enjoy it. I was wrong. This narrator takes all the wit and charm right out of the book. Her choice of voices for the characters is truly unfortunate, and she seems so determined to maintain the accents, etc. of these various characters that she misses the point--certainly the humor--of the sentences they speak.

Delightful upstairs/downstairs story

Don't miss this one. Cluny Brown is unique in British upstairs/downstairs fiction. Brilliant, surprising and fun. Loved getting to know her!

Charming!

Margery Sharp’s books initially appear to predicable romances. The reader gradually becomes aware that the world depicted is not what they expected. The unworthy do not suffer and the righteous cannot count on earthly rewards. The books are charming and extremely funny. Cluny Brown may be the very best of them.