Storm Jameson published these three novellas in the early 1930s – and they are heavily redolent of that period.

Each examines the life of a woman who struggles to overcome her circumstances:

First, a novelist, increasingly overshadowed by her less talented but more charismatic, beautiful (and promiscuous) childhood friend.

Second, a wealthy heiress who, escaping a loveless marriage through an affair with a poor clerk, is eventually rewarded by his own serial adulteries, but nevertheless devotes herself to his advancement.

And, finally, a ‘kept woman’ growing old, stout and unattractive, who – about to be deserted by George – spends a day in and around Richmond Park, reflecting on her past and exacting a petty revenge on the people she meets.

The first and second stories are competent and worthwhile, but the third is far more impressive and deserves to be more widely known.

TD

April 2023