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The Harsh Voice
In these four short novels set in America, England and Paris, Rebecca West explores the lives and relationships of rich women and men who are ruled by 'the harsh voice we hear when money talks, or hate'. There is Josie, a flower of American girlhood with boundless ambition for wealth. There is Etienne de Sefavenac, a dilettante French aristocrat whose courtly stratagems are intended to ensnare Nancy Sarle - a plain American businesswoman. There is Alice Pemberton, a sensible Englishwoman - the very salt of the earth - in her own estimation. And lastly there is Sam Hartley, an American businessman who has fought his way to riches with his wife at his side, but whose life is now haunted by visions of beautiful young women.
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
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219 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca West
143 books455 followersCicely Isabel Fairfield, known by her pen name Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, DBE was an English author, journalist, literary critic, and travel writer. She was brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she attended George Watson's Ladies College.
A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public intellectuals of the twentieth century. She reviewed books for The Times, the New York Herald Tribune, the Sunday Telegraph, and the New Republic, and she was a correspondent for The Bookman. Her major works include Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), on the history and culture of Yugoslavia; A Train of Powder (1955), her coverage of the Nuremberg trials, published originally in The New Yorker; The Meaning of Treason, later The New Meaning of Treason, a study of World War II and Communist traitors; The Return of the Soldier, a modernist World War I novel; and the "Aubrey trilogy" of autobiographical novels, The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night, and Cousin Rosamund. Time called her "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" in 1947. She was made CBE in 1949, and DBE in 1959, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to British letters.
A prolific, protean author who wrote in many genres, West was committed to feminist and liberal principles and was one of the foremost public intellectuals of the twentieth century. She reviewed books for The Times, the New York Herald Tribune, the Sunday Telegraph, and the New Republic, and she was a correspondent for The Bookman. Her major works include Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), on the history and culture of Yugoslavia; A Train of Powder (1955), her coverage of the Nuremberg trials, published originally in The New Yorker; The Meaning of Treason, later The New Meaning of Treason, a study of World War II and Communist traitors; The Return of the Soldier, a modernist World War I novel; and the "Aubrey trilogy" of autobiographical novels, The Fountain Overflows, This Real Night, and Cousin Rosamund. Time called her "indisputably the world's number one woman writer" in 1947. She was made CBE in 1949, and DBE in 1959, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to British letters.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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December 5, 2018Collection of short stories, I have a vague memory of only one of them in which a woman is murdered by her family and friends because she is an annoying salt of the earth type, always busy-bodying around (not so subtle subtext: 'leave me alone'!). I was attracted to the collection after reading Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, but while that is a work in which the author's passion and engagement have remained with me, the stories here have slipped from my mind.
Around the same time I read The Birds Fall Down, which I remember as ok, but my overall impression is that Black Lamb and Grey Falcon allowed her to express herself in a fuller and more complete way than her fiction did.
Around the same time I read The Birds Fall Down, which I remember as ok, but my overall impression is that Black Lamb and Grey Falcon allowed her to express herself in a fuller and more complete way than her fiction did.
April 6, 2017
Rebecca West's The Harsh Voice is comprised of four very short novellas, or four rather long short stories. Take your pick. Whatever they are classified as, each is absolutely wonderful, and together they make for a striking and important collection. As ever with West's work, the writing here is strong, and the stories themselves utterly masterful. Each tale has surprising twists and realistic characters. 'The Salt of the Earth' is also one of the best stories which I have ever read. Wonderful and controlled, The Harsh Voice is a must-read.
February 10, 2025
Rebecca West. A name that is a part of our cultural literacy, but how have I gone this long without discovering the magnificence of her prose? These four novellas are 90 years old, yet as fresh and unconventional as they would have been in 1935. Nothing predictable about any of the stories (except, possibly, *The Salt of the Earth,* since it was produced by Alfred Hitchcock in 1963 as "The Paragon," so the plot will be familiar to readers who have seen the episode. [And bless his heart, Hitchcock stayed close to the original!])
Each novella is different from the other, and while none of the endings are exactly surprise endings, they are unexpected without requiring the reader to suspend their disbelief, because while unexpected, each story flows perfectly into its respective conclusion.
West is one of those rare writers, like John Cheever, who actually can make a reader stop and reread passages, just to savor the elegance and truth of her wordsmithing. I did this several times, such as at the beginning of "There Is No Conversation," when she writes "There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all."
Dear readers, don't let Rebecca West fall into oblivion! Her work is far too good for that, and her writing is too well-crafted and precise to lose.
Each novella is different from the other, and while none of the endings are exactly surprise endings, they are unexpected without requiring the reader to suspend their disbelief, because while unexpected, each story flows perfectly into its respective conclusion.
West is one of those rare writers, like John Cheever, who actually can make a reader stop and reread passages, just to savor the elegance and truth of her wordsmithing. I did this several times, such as at the beginning of "There Is No Conversation," when she writes "There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are intersecting monologues, that is all."
Dear readers, don't let Rebecca West fall into oblivion! Her work is far too good for that, and her writing is too well-crafted and precise to lose.
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August 22, 2019A collection of longish stories that investigates a mannered society, its props, and its money, and raised some fairly devastating questions about what happens when the props are removed. The often praised “The Abiding Vision” didn’t quite work for my as I felt its protagonist to have, ultimately, not really deserved his fate—not least of which being that we don’t know quite what form that fate will take after the crisis is passed. “The Salt of the Earth” is probably the one I liked best, though the ending is rather terrifying. Perhaps that blurb on the dust jacket says it best: four ... mordant little novels. I’ll reserve judgment re “brilliant” for the time being.
June 17, 2010
2.5 stars for the first, third, and fourth stories of the book, four for the second, the surprise ending of which made this worthwhile.
June 12, 2025
The reason to read this is the story "The Salt of the Earth," which is the best description of a narcissist I have ever read. Way before r/JustNoMIL!
January 27, 2018
The most interesting story is The Salt of the Earth about a beautiful charming solicitor's wife called Alice Pemberton who has absolutely nothing to do with her time. She spends her time criticising her servants (who are there so she doesn't have to lift a finger) and interfering in the affairs of others, principally those of her close family and their children. Eventually her increasingly desperate husband has a confrontation with her which leads to a tragic dénoument.
Alice is a product of a bygone age, when an educated and intelligent woman could be totally idle- destructive like Hedda Gabler only less dramatically. Thank goodness we live in a different age now. Some parts of the novella go on a bit too long including the final dialogue between her and her husband.
Alice is a product of a bygone age, when an educated and intelligent woman could be totally idle- destructive like Hedda Gabler only less dramatically. Thank goodness we live in a different age now. Some parts of the novella go on a bit too long including the final dialogue between her and her husband.
January 4, 2016
Black Lamb Grey Falcon is a triumph. The Harsh Voice is the first work of fiction I have read by her. Very good.
February 18, 2020
Five stars for There Is No Conversation though.
December 1, 2022
In theory I should have really liked this because it's just characters being shady and unable to communicate, but although the writing was sometimes quite good the pacing was really slow. 2.5.
October 28, 2024
Four brilliant short novels. My favourite was the rather brutal "The Salt of the Earth", but they were all really good.
April 15, 2025
Overall, this was an enjoyable read. The book consists of four either very long short stories or four short novellas. However you want to look at it. 😊
• The Harsh Voice — 3 stars [originally published in the Saturday Evening Post]
• There Is No Conversation — 3.5 stars [originally published in the Saturday Evening Post]
• The Salt of the Earth — 4 stars [originally published in the Woman’s Home Companion]
• The Abiding Vision — 3.5 stars
I liked ‘There Is No Conversation’ because of its unexpected ending. I liked the following story, The Salt of the Earth, because the central protagonist did not have an ounce of good in her, although she thought she was a saint. Ah well, she got her comeuppance.
Here is a synopsis of the stories from the back cover of the Virago Modern Classics re-issue (the book of stories/novellas had been originally published in 1935.
• In these 4 brilliant short novels set in America, England, and Paris, Rebecca West explores the lives and relationships of rich women and men who are ruled by ‘the harsh voice we hear when money talks, or hate.’ There is Josie, a flower of American girlhood whose boundless ambition for wealth fatally loosens the bonds of her marriage to Corrie. There is Etienne de Sevenac, a dilettante French aristocrat whole courtly stratagems are no match for Nancy Sarle—a plain but powerful American businesswoman. There is Alice Pemberton, a sensible Englishwomen— the very salt of the earth—but a petty tyrant in her gracious Georgian home. And lastly there is Sam Hartley, an American businessman who had fought his way to riches with his wife at his side, but whose life is now haunted by an abiding vision of beautiful young women.
Note: The second reviewer below reminded me of something I did not like about some stories in the book — characters used derogatory terms towards Jews and Italians and Blacks.
Reviews:
• (great review but the reviewer gives too much away...read this after you read the four stories/novellas) ...https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordp...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2019/...
• The Harsh Voice — 3 stars [originally published in the Saturday Evening Post]
• There Is No Conversation — 3.5 stars [originally published in the Saturday Evening Post]
• The Salt of the Earth — 4 stars [originally published in the Woman’s Home Companion]
• The Abiding Vision — 3.5 stars
I liked ‘There Is No Conversation’ because of its unexpected ending. I liked the following story, The Salt of the Earth, because the central protagonist did not have an ounce of good in her, although she thought she was a saint. Ah well, she got her comeuppance.
Here is a synopsis of the stories from the back cover of the Virago Modern Classics re-issue (the book of stories/novellas had been originally published in 1935.
• In these 4 brilliant short novels set in America, England, and Paris, Rebecca West explores the lives and relationships of rich women and men who are ruled by ‘the harsh voice we hear when money talks, or hate.’ There is Josie, a flower of American girlhood whose boundless ambition for wealth fatally loosens the bonds of her marriage to Corrie. There is Etienne de Sevenac, a dilettante French aristocrat whole courtly stratagems are no match for Nancy Sarle—a plain but powerful American businesswoman. There is Alice Pemberton, a sensible Englishwomen— the very salt of the earth—but a petty tyrant in her gracious Georgian home. And lastly there is Sam Hartley, an American businessman who had fought his way to riches with his wife at his side, but whose life is now haunted by an abiding vision of beautiful young women.
Note: The second reviewer below reminded me of something I did not like about some stories in the book — characters used derogatory terms towards Jews and Italians and Blacks.
Reviews:
• (great review but the reviewer gives too much away...read this after you read the four stories/novellas) ...https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordp...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2019/...
July 27, 2021
DNF They're hard to concentrate on but a classic.
August 28, 2020
Having read this some months ago, I confess that I could not call to mind any of the four short novels (or long short stories) that make up The Harsh Voice without re-opening the book and flipping through it. They are clearly not memorable, to me at least, and I think that is as much a matter of style as of substance.
In the second piece – ‘There is no Conversation’ – an aristocratic, Parisian philanderer completely underestimates an American businesswoman in a sort of Jamesian clash of cultures and mutual misunderstanding. There’s a good short story in there, containing some witty lines and sharp observations – yet it is buried in 120 pages of often repetitive text, including a desperately contrived finale in which the basis for the misunderstanding is methodically and ponderously explained. But the real ending – the last few words – is brilliant. How irritating is that? I could have wished for an editor like Gordon Lish to cut out the verbiage and make a much leaner book of it. As it stands, the last of the four pieces – ‘The Abiding Vision’ – works best. It is a tale of a self-made man who is essentially dependent on the willing self-sacrifice of two good women: the harsh voice of money softened, in part, by something approaching love. Will I read more by Rebecca West? On the basis of this book, possibly, at a pinch...but I can't say I am excited by the prospect.
In the second piece – ‘There is no Conversation’ – an aristocratic, Parisian philanderer completely underestimates an American businesswoman in a sort of Jamesian clash of cultures and mutual misunderstanding. There’s a good short story in there, containing some witty lines and sharp observations – yet it is buried in 120 pages of often repetitive text, including a desperately contrived finale in which the basis for the misunderstanding is methodically and ponderously explained. But the real ending – the last few words – is brilliant. How irritating is that? I could have wished for an editor like Gordon Lish to cut out the verbiage and make a much leaner book of it. As it stands, the last of the four pieces – ‘The Abiding Vision’ – works best. It is a tale of a self-made man who is essentially dependent on the willing self-sacrifice of two good women: the harsh voice of money softened, in part, by something approaching love. Will I read more by Rebecca West? On the basis of this book, possibly, at a pinch...but I can't say I am excited by the prospect.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews