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The Flowering Thorn
Life in London for Lesley was everything that a young woman could desire: elegant clothes, a full engagement book, a wide circle of friends. Yet, on the spur of the moment, Lesley suddenly adopts a four-year-old child.
"If I'd known what I was taking on I shouldn't have done it. . . ."
Little did she realize then that the child, Pat, was to govern the whole course of her life. Leaving her London flat, she takes refuge in a country cottage and here, after an acutely trying period of readjustment, life falls for the first time into its true perspective: Lesley discovers for herself the precious distinction between pleasure and happiness.
"If I'd known what I was taking on I shouldn't have done it. . . ."
Little did she realize then that the child, Pat, was to govern the whole course of her life. Leaving her London flat, she takes refuge in a country cottage and here, after an acutely trying period of readjustment, life falls for the first time into its true perspective: Lesley discovers for herself the precious distinction between pleasure and happiness.
345 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1933
108 people are currently reading
631 people want to read
About the author
Margery Sharp
80 books184 followersMargery Sharp was born Clara Margery Melita Sharp in Salisbury. She spent part of her childhood in Malta.
Sharp wrote 26 novels, 14 children's stories, 4 plays, 2 mysteries and many short stories. She is best known for her series of children's books about a little white mouse named Miss Bianca and her companion, Bernard. Two Disney films have been made based on them, called The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under.
In 1938, she married Major Geoffrey Castle, an aeronautical engineer.
Sharp wrote 26 novels, 14 children's stories, 4 plays, 2 mysteries and many short stories. She is best known for her series of children's books about a little white mouse named Miss Bianca and her companion, Bernard. Two Disney films have been made based on them, called The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under.
In 1938, she married Major Geoffrey Castle, an aeronautical engineer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
March 13, 2018
4.33 stars. I picked up this charming 1933 British novel on a $1.99 Kindle sale, and it was well worth the price. Our story begins in 1929, when a 28 year old prickly, self-centered London socialite, Lesley Frewen, feeling a bit at loose ends, decides on a whim to adopt a 4 year old boy who's been orphaned. Fairly soon she discovers that she can't maintain her current lifestyle or even her London apartment with Patrick, and retreats to the small village of High Westover, where she's able to find a small, ugly cottage that's within her limited means. (She's got some kind of inheritance that means she doesn't need to work for a living, but it doesn't give her a whole lot of extra cash.)
Lesley really isn't the maternal type, but she finds she has a strong practical streak that now stands her in good stead. She's not very affectionate toward Patrick, but luckily he's a stolid, fairly independent boy, and he and Lesley rub along fairly well ... and gradually begin to grow closer. At first she and the villagers view each other with suspicion, and there's a very funny scene where she invites a few of her London friends to come stay in her cottage for a few days as a housewarming party, which is mildly disastrous (but has a very interesting consequence a couple of years later).
Lesley plans from the beginning to send Patrick off to boarding school when he's eight years old - luckily she has Connections - and move back to the city and take up her old life at that point. But what she doesn't count on is the ways that life in the country might change her. There's some nice symmetry and contrast in Lesley's dealings with two young men who fall in love with her, one at the beginning of the book and one at the end.
The Flowering Thorn is noticeably old-fashioned and retro in its sensibilities, but I really enjoy that kind of read now and then. A heartwarming story, with just enough edginess mixed in that it doesn't come across as sappy. I really enjoyed the way the characters were drawn, fallible and with human foibles, but sympathetic and (mostly) likable.
Lesley really isn't the maternal type, but she finds she has a strong practical streak that now stands her in good stead. She's not very affectionate toward Patrick, but luckily he's a stolid, fairly independent boy, and he and Lesley rub along fairly well ... and gradually begin to grow closer. At first she and the villagers view each other with suspicion, and there's a very funny scene where she invites a few of her London friends to come stay in her cottage for a few days as a housewarming party, which is mildly disastrous (but has a very interesting consequence a couple of years later).
Lesley plans from the beginning to send Patrick off to boarding school when he's eight years old - luckily she has Connections - and move back to the city and take up her old life at that point. But what she doesn't count on is the ways that life in the country might change her. There's some nice symmetry and contrast in Lesley's dealings with two young men who fall in love with her, one at the beginning of the book and one at the end.
The Flowering Thorn is noticeably old-fashioned and retro in its sensibilities, but I really enjoy that kind of read now and then. A heartwarming story, with just enough edginess mixed in that it doesn't come across as sappy. I really enjoyed the way the characters were drawn, fallible and with human foibles, but sympathetic and (mostly) likable.
July 29, 2017
Lesley Frewen is a socialite – with emphasis on the ‘lite’. At first I wondered why I was reading a book about such a frivolous young woman and all her pretentious friends. It’s definitely not a lifestyle that has much appeal for me, as their chief occupations seemed to be parties with lots of drinking, inane chatter and shopping and primping for those parties. Lesley Frewen also had somewhat of an attitude, as did many of the others involved in her life and lifestyle.
It was her very attitude that caused her to stubbornly dig in her heels and decide to adopt a 4 and a half year old boy whose mother had been in service to Lesley’s aunt and died leaving young Patrick with no family. She thought she could rent a larger place and carry on with her previous lifestyle. However, reality taught her differently.
Necessity caused her to move to a small cottage near a country village, and because her income would not stretch to more staff than an elderly woman who would help out with chores in the mornings, she found herself figuring out ways to do for herself.
Lesley’s gradual progression from self-centred socialite to cottage-dwelling contentment is what sparkles in this story, and it generates an interesting and enjoyable read. Strong character development and deep understanding of what motivates people in different situations seem to be Margery Sharp’s strong points as a writer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading great character studies where people make choices and changes in their lives that force them to grow personally and ultimately lead them to a more fulfilling life.
It was her very attitude that caused her to stubbornly dig in her heels and decide to adopt a 4 and a half year old boy whose mother had been in service to Lesley’s aunt and died leaving young Patrick with no family. She thought she could rent a larger place and carry on with her previous lifestyle. However, reality taught her differently.
Necessity caused her to move to a small cottage near a country village, and because her income would not stretch to more staff than an elderly woman who would help out with chores in the mornings, she found herself figuring out ways to do for herself.
Lesley’s gradual progression from self-centred socialite to cottage-dwelling contentment is what sparkles in this story, and it generates an interesting and enjoyable read. Strong character development and deep understanding of what motivates people in different situations seem to be Margery Sharp’s strong points as a writer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading great character studies where people make choices and changes in their lives that force them to grow personally and ultimately lead them to a more fulfilling life.
March 15, 2015
Margery Sharp’s 1933 novel – her fourth – is light, bright and witty, and it’s thoughtful, emotional and profound too. Not many authors can do all those things, and I don’t think anyone but Margery Sharp could wrap them up in a book as engaging and readable as in ‘The Flowering Thorn.’
'The Flowering Thorn' tells the story of Lesley Frewn. She was a Londoner, and you could probably call her a bright young thing. She had private means – not enough to make her fabulously wealthy, but more than enough to give her a very nice lifestyle. She had a lovely flat, her wardrobe was full of the latest fashions; she loved, art, music and theatre and partying with her circle of friends and suitors.
But one day something went wrong.
“The image she sought there–so curiously, eagerly, as though for the first time–was tall, poised and precisely as slender as fashion required. Gown, gloves and single orchid were impeccably chosen, while the dark, smooth shingle, close as a silken scalp, set off a certain neat elegance of head and shoulders. A lady, one would say, of at least sufficient income, enjoying considerable taste, and not more than twenty-eight years old….Without the slightest warning, Lesley Frewen burst into tears.”
A man was to blame: the one suitor Lesley really, really wanted didn’t want her.
Now experience has taught me that one Margery Sharp heroines, a wonderfully diverse group of women, have in common is that they don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves; they get up and carry on.
Lesley was no exception, and she was also inclined to be bolshie.
That goes some way to explaining why she offered to adopt an unwanted infant who had been left on her aunt’s hand after the death of a servant, saving him from being sent to an orphanage.
The other part of the explanation was that she thought that the experience would proved her with a fabulous stock of anecdotes.
She had doubts, but she had been taken with the child and she didn’t want to lose face. So she told herself that in four years time he would be going to school and she could resume her old life.
Lesley quickly realised that her income would only stretch so far, and so she decided that she would move her household to a cottage in the country. It takes time for her and her little boy – Pat – to learn to live together. The relationship they form is more much elder sister left in charge and little brother than mother and child, but they make it work.
Margery Sharp handles this beautifully, with understanding but without the faintest hint of sentimentality.
Along the way Lesley learns to be a countrywoman, forming friendships with her neighbours, joining in village life, and eventually realising that she could dine very well on local produce and didn’t need to have meals sent down from Fortnum and Mason.
“All through the summer Lesley’s household consolidated itself. In now included besides Patrick, Mrs Sprigg, and Pincher; a fine ginger cat who was sometimes called Alice; and of its tiny universe – as variously inhabited, for all its size as the island in ‘The Tempest’ – Lesley herself was the natural and undisputed centre. Within it, whatever she said or did was of extreme importance: goddess-like in her meanest activities, she dispensed food, favour, justice and protection. She had scraps for a dog, milk for a cat, bread for a child, a wage for an old woman: she had a roof and a fire and a door to shut or open. She was beginning to be beloved, and she was already essential.”
The journey to that point wasn’t simple: there were ups and downs and lots of lovely details, characters and incidents.
Lesley became great friends with the vicar’s wife; she charmed her elderly, aristocratic landlord; she rose to the occasion magnificently when called upon in a crisis.
And yet the obvious resolution was far from inevitable. There would be visitors from London, and there would always be a part of Lesley that felt the pull of her old life.
She was aware that the country life had changed her, as the good country food had changed her waistline, and she really didn’t know when Patrick went away to take up the school place that Lesley had inveigled her godfather into providing.
It was lovely spending time with these characters and in this world. There were so many times when I smiled, when I felt a tug of emotion, as I read.
There would be a lovely twist before the ending.
And that’s all I’m going to say.
The whole book is lovely, it’s as fine an entertainment today as it must have been in 1933, and I a still hoping that someone somewhere will reissue Margery Sharp’s books ….
'The Flowering Thorn' tells the story of Lesley Frewn. She was a Londoner, and you could probably call her a bright young thing. She had private means – not enough to make her fabulously wealthy, but more than enough to give her a very nice lifestyle. She had a lovely flat, her wardrobe was full of the latest fashions; she loved, art, music and theatre and partying with her circle of friends and suitors.
But one day something went wrong.
“The image she sought there–so curiously, eagerly, as though for the first time–was tall, poised and precisely as slender as fashion required. Gown, gloves and single orchid were impeccably chosen, while the dark, smooth shingle, close as a silken scalp, set off a certain neat elegance of head and shoulders. A lady, one would say, of at least sufficient income, enjoying considerable taste, and not more than twenty-eight years old….Without the slightest warning, Lesley Frewen burst into tears.”
A man was to blame: the one suitor Lesley really, really wanted didn’t want her.
Now experience has taught me that one Margery Sharp heroines, a wonderfully diverse group of women, have in common is that they don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves; they get up and carry on.
Lesley was no exception, and she was also inclined to be bolshie.
That goes some way to explaining why she offered to adopt an unwanted infant who had been left on her aunt’s hand after the death of a servant, saving him from being sent to an orphanage.
The other part of the explanation was that she thought that the experience would proved her with a fabulous stock of anecdotes.
She had doubts, but she had been taken with the child and she didn’t want to lose face. So she told herself that in four years time he would be going to school and she could resume her old life.
Lesley quickly realised that her income would only stretch so far, and so she decided that she would move her household to a cottage in the country. It takes time for her and her little boy – Pat – to learn to live together. The relationship they form is more much elder sister left in charge and little brother than mother and child, but they make it work.
Margery Sharp handles this beautifully, with understanding but without the faintest hint of sentimentality.
Along the way Lesley learns to be a countrywoman, forming friendships with her neighbours, joining in village life, and eventually realising that she could dine very well on local produce and didn’t need to have meals sent down from Fortnum and Mason.
“All through the summer Lesley’s household consolidated itself. In now included besides Patrick, Mrs Sprigg, and Pincher; a fine ginger cat who was sometimes called Alice; and of its tiny universe – as variously inhabited, for all its size as the island in ‘The Tempest’ – Lesley herself was the natural and undisputed centre. Within it, whatever she said or did was of extreme importance: goddess-like in her meanest activities, she dispensed food, favour, justice and protection. She had scraps for a dog, milk for a cat, bread for a child, a wage for an old woman: she had a roof and a fire and a door to shut or open. She was beginning to be beloved, and she was already essential.”
The journey to that point wasn’t simple: there were ups and downs and lots of lovely details, characters and incidents.
Lesley became great friends with the vicar’s wife; she charmed her elderly, aristocratic landlord; she rose to the occasion magnificently when called upon in a crisis.
And yet the obvious resolution was far from inevitable. There would be visitors from London, and there would always be a part of Lesley that felt the pull of her old life.
She was aware that the country life had changed her, as the good country food had changed her waistline, and she really didn’t know when Patrick went away to take up the school place that Lesley had inveigled her godfather into providing.
It was lovely spending time with these characters and in this world. There were so many times when I smiled, when I felt a tug of emotion, as I read.
There would be a lovely twist before the ending.
And that’s all I’m going to say.
The whole book is lovely, it’s as fine an entertainment today as it must have been in 1933, and I a still hoping that someone somewhere will reissue Margery Sharp’s books ….
June 23, 2021
The Flowering Thorn is a rather unsentimental novel about the journey of a pleasure-addicted, fashion-obsessed party-loving “bright young thing.” of 1920’s London. She unaccountably takes on the care of a four-year-old orphan son of a servant of her aunt.
Why? Towards the end of the book, Lesley Frewen looks back:
I remember quite well the reasons why I adopted him. I had been very bored in London, and had also failed to look my best at an important dinner-party. At least, I thought it was important.… The next day I went down to my aunt’s, and found her at her wits’ end to know what to do with Pat. I thought that if I adopted him it would provide me with a new and amusing topic of conversation. If I’d known what I was taking on I shouldn’t have done it. And when I did know.… I felt like wrapping him in a shawl and leaving him on a doorstep.” “But you didn’t, did you?” said Mrs. Brooke.
She soon realizes that she can no longer afford to keep both her little apartment in her fashionable neighborhood and the child.
[The realtors] all said the same thing. For the accommodation Madam required, and at the rent Madam was prepared to pay, Madam would probably do better to try the suburbs. Lesley listened incredulously: it was as though they advised her to try Australia. There were the suburbs, of course, through which one occasionally passed in a car, and where people out of Punch borrowed each other’s mowers: but as for living there— ‘Impossible!’and so step by step, fighting every inch of the way, she was driven into the country.
Why does not she just admit defeat and give him back? Nothing legally prevents her.
She thought, ‘If I don’t see this thing out I shall have something rotten inside me for the rest of my life.’ Rotten like an apple—the brown decaying core under the firm red skin.…
There is more to this girl than meets the eye.
From there we are on a very gradual journey of experiences and insights that lead to her letting go of one kind of life, and choosing to live and appreciate another kind. By the end of her growth, she becomes a “countrywoman” with all that entails: a sea change involving food, nature, fashion, physical activity, and friendship. Curiously, it does not involve becoming a devoted loving mother to young Pat ala Auntie Mame.
“I don’t like this place,” said Patrick suddenly. From the sound of his voice she knew the tears to be near: but no impulse to console awoke in her, only a faint shiver of revulsion. A crying child, a dark house.…she looked at him with an intensity of dislike so nearly bordering on hatred … for in all their enforced companionship she never once spoke to him without consciously masking her face. It was a hatred to be ashamed of, ignoble and unjust: but she did not love him the more for making her ashamed.
That is very painful to read, But surprisingly she is a great parent to Pat who is not a brilliant or exceptional boy. He is not intelligent or clever or particularly attractive. He is just ordinary in every way except in his determination to succeed in whatever he attempts. And because of necessity and propinquity, the hatred does not last. But she never adores him.
Despite the lack of sentimentality, I was moved to tears in a few places near the end, one of which does involve Pat and Leslie’s relationship. And it is funny and witty along the lines of Angela Thirkell and D.E. Stevenson. Doubtless, some readers will not have the patience to journey with Lesley or “Frewen” as Pat calls her, along her slow learning curve. There is no series of dramatic revelations, great romance, or emotional epiphanies. But it is an evocative and amusing portrait of a young woman, a boy, and her friends and neighbors. I closed the book loving them all.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
Why? Towards the end of the book, Lesley Frewen looks back:
I remember quite well the reasons why I adopted him. I had been very bored in London, and had also failed to look my best at an important dinner-party. At least, I thought it was important.… The next day I went down to my aunt’s, and found her at her wits’ end to know what to do with Pat. I thought that if I adopted him it would provide me with a new and amusing topic of conversation. If I’d known what I was taking on I shouldn’t have done it. And when I did know.… I felt like wrapping him in a shawl and leaving him on a doorstep.” “But you didn’t, did you?” said Mrs. Brooke.
She soon realizes that she can no longer afford to keep both her little apartment in her fashionable neighborhood and the child.
[The realtors] all said the same thing. For the accommodation Madam required, and at the rent Madam was prepared to pay, Madam would probably do better to try the suburbs. Lesley listened incredulously: it was as though they advised her to try Australia. There were the suburbs, of course, through which one occasionally passed in a car, and where people out of Punch borrowed each other’s mowers: but as for living there— ‘Impossible!’and so step by step, fighting every inch of the way, she was driven into the country.
Why does not she just admit defeat and give him back? Nothing legally prevents her.
She thought, ‘If I don’t see this thing out I shall have something rotten inside me for the rest of my life.’ Rotten like an apple—the brown decaying core under the firm red skin.…
There is more to this girl than meets the eye.
From there we are on a very gradual journey of experiences and insights that lead to her letting go of one kind of life, and choosing to live and appreciate another kind. By the end of her growth, she becomes a “countrywoman” with all that entails: a sea change involving food, nature, fashion, physical activity, and friendship. Curiously, it does not involve becoming a devoted loving mother to young Pat ala Auntie Mame.
“I don’t like this place,” said Patrick suddenly. From the sound of his voice she knew the tears to be near: but no impulse to console awoke in her, only a faint shiver of revulsion. A crying child, a dark house.…she looked at him with an intensity of dislike so nearly bordering on hatred … for in all their enforced companionship she never once spoke to him without consciously masking her face. It was a hatred to be ashamed of, ignoble and unjust: but she did not love him the more for making her ashamed.
That is very painful to read, But surprisingly she is a great parent to Pat who is not a brilliant or exceptional boy. He is not intelligent or clever or particularly attractive. He is just ordinary in every way except in his determination to succeed in whatever he attempts. And because of necessity and propinquity, the hatred does not last. But she never adores him.
And as a result of all this non-devotion, you’ve brought Pat up damned well. “A child should be—how can I put it?—not too much concentrated on…An only child supporting the whole weight of the mother’s emotions—and sometimes the father’s as well—he leads the most exhausting life on earth. It’s what might very well have happened to Pat, if you’d been another kind of woman. My dear Lesley—you know all this better than I do, of course—a child doesn’t want to absorb a life, he wants to inhabit one. Make a happy life for him to inhabit, and you make your child happy too.—I’ve never tried it myself,” admitted Sir Philip, “but that’s the theory.”
Despite the lack of sentimentality, I was moved to tears in a few places near the end, one of which does involve Pat and Leslie’s relationship. And it is funny and witty along the lines of Angela Thirkell and D.E. Stevenson. Doubtless, some readers will not have the patience to journey with Lesley or “Frewen” as Pat calls her, along her slow learning curve. There is no series of dramatic revelations, great romance, or emotional epiphanies. But it is an evocative and amusing portrait of a young woman, a boy, and her friends and neighbors. I closed the book loving them all.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings....
January 12, 2015
Delightful tale of a bored English society woman in 1929 who adopts a 4 year old boy and moves to the country. It's written in old fashioned context and rather stilted prose that completely melds to the mood and this honest spirit seeking her worth. Wonderful read!
February 1, 2019
A single socialite living in London, England decides on the spur of the moment to combat her ennui by adopting a four-year-old orphan in this 1938 novel by the brilliant Margery Sharp. Little does the main character know that her self-centred, well-ordered life is about to change forever. Forced to live within her means, she moves to the country and begins a simpler existence. Although her "cottage" sounds more like a two-storey house, and her struggles are alleviated by the presence of a daily housekeeper, nevertheless it's a far cry from her former nightly round of cocktail parties and visits to the theatre. Will she adjust to her new life, or hand off the boy to an orphanage and return to her hedonistic pursuits? Really, the outcome is a foregone conclusion, but the writing is so clever that I enjoyed every page.
November 23, 2020
The protagonist of The Flowering Thorn, Lesley Frewen, is probably one of the most clueless characters I've ever enjoyed reading about. As the story begins she's a rather bored London socialite, whose only thoughts are for clothes, entertainment, and the next party. In an odd fateful moment, caught up in a strange mix of compassion and stubbornness, she suddenly decides to adopt an orphaned two year old boy. The realization that she does not have sufficient means to raise him in the city precipitates a move to the country. And ends up changing the entire course of her life.
Lesley can be a hard character to relate to, given her strange and persistent lack of personal insight, but she has a good heart, determination, and she's not afraid of hard work. I loved experiencing the growth she makes, even though she herself is mostly blind to it.
This was my first adult novel by Margery Sharp and now I'm eager to read others.
4.5 stars
Lesley can be a hard character to relate to, given her strange and persistent lack of personal insight, but she has a good heart, determination, and she's not afraid of hard work. I loved experiencing the growth she makes, even though she herself is mostly blind to it.
This was my first adult novel by Margery Sharp and now I'm eager to read others.
4.5 stars
October 17, 2025
The genius of this book is that Lesley Frewne is the least sentimental person imaginable. She has the dream life of a 'bright young thing' in 1930s London. But on the spur of the moment she adopts a four year old boy and due to her newly stricken finances moves to a cottage in the country.
Margery Sharp never fails to make me laugh and her slow development of Lesley Frewne is excellent. ALSO it's refreshingly not a novel devoted to romance, though everything does get neatly dovetailed and end happily. For me the book finished to soon and I wish there was a sequel!
Margery Sharp never fails to make me laugh and her slow development of Lesley Frewne is excellent. ALSO it's refreshingly not a novel devoted to romance, though everything does get neatly dovetailed and end happily. For me the book finished to soon and I wish there was a sequel!
March 31, 2023
Ms. Sharp uses subtlety in her writing and you are frequently left to fill in the blanks. She doesn't waste time telling us the obvious. Her assumption seems to be that any idiot would know what is really happening. I don't have a problem with that.
June 14, 2021
I did not know a great deal about The Flowering Thorn before placing my library reservation, and I chose deliberately not to look into it too much before beginning. The novel, written very much for adults, centres upon a 'Jazz Age socialite', a woman in her late twenties named Lesley Frewen. At a point in her life where she is feeling 'disillusioned and unhappy', Lesley takes the rash decision to look after an orphaned four-year-old boy named Patrick.
Lesley soon realises that taking Patrick on clashes horribly with her life in London, from her flat in an exclusive block which does not accept children - 'The management, indeed, worked, and worked successfully, on the basic assumption that their tenants as a class were not intended by nature to boil eggs, wash socks, sew on buttons, walk up or down stairs, have children, keep dogs, or put up friends on the sofa' - to her old friends who do not even try to understand her choice. Finding that even 'the flattering attention of the opposite sex' must be relinquished, Lesley decides to move to a cottage in rural Buckinghamshire, for the very specific period of five years. As she settles into her new home, which is initially described as 'hideously ugly and hopelessly inconvenient', there is an enormous shift, from her selfish and unlikeable character to someone far more accommodating, who has given herself the chance to feel free.
The Flowering Thorn begins in 1929, and follows Lesley from her fateful decision - she 'had little doubt that the Problem, as raw material, was of exceptional quality' - all the way through to her becoming settled in her countryside home after a number of years have passed. In this time, Lesley grows from an highly irresponsible figure, to a far more acceptable one, treasured by those around her. Discovery is at the heart of this novel. Sharp writes: 'In fact, it might almost be said that she was never bored at all. There was a constant intercourse, a continual deepening of acquaintance; instead of knowing a hundred people by sight she would soon know half a dozen by heart. An eventual return to Town was still, so to speak, the vanishing point of her perspective; but the lines were four years long, and in the meantime, for her consolation, there was this new and startling discovery: that the country is populated by really quite interesting persons.'
Throughout, I loved Sharp's attention to detail; her thorough descriptions throughout the novel make The Flowering Thorn feel truly tangible, and quite atmospheric at times too. Sharp is highly aware of her protagonist, and her changing feelings, and has a real eye for building realistic characters. I enjoyed this novel a great deal, and I hope to spend far more time with the rest of Sharp's oeuvre in future. She is a long overlooked, highly considerate, and really quite underappreciated author, and I would urge you to pick at least one of her books up - and soon.
Lesley soon realises that taking Patrick on clashes horribly with her life in London, from her flat in an exclusive block which does not accept children - 'The management, indeed, worked, and worked successfully, on the basic assumption that their tenants as a class were not intended by nature to boil eggs, wash socks, sew on buttons, walk up or down stairs, have children, keep dogs, or put up friends on the sofa' - to her old friends who do not even try to understand her choice. Finding that even 'the flattering attention of the opposite sex' must be relinquished, Lesley decides to move to a cottage in rural Buckinghamshire, for the very specific period of five years. As she settles into her new home, which is initially described as 'hideously ugly and hopelessly inconvenient', there is an enormous shift, from her selfish and unlikeable character to someone far more accommodating, who has given herself the chance to feel free.
The Flowering Thorn begins in 1929, and follows Lesley from her fateful decision - she 'had little doubt that the Problem, as raw material, was of exceptional quality' - all the way through to her becoming settled in her countryside home after a number of years have passed. In this time, Lesley grows from an highly irresponsible figure, to a far more acceptable one, treasured by those around her. Discovery is at the heart of this novel. Sharp writes: 'In fact, it might almost be said that she was never bored at all. There was a constant intercourse, a continual deepening of acquaintance; instead of knowing a hundred people by sight she would soon know half a dozen by heart. An eventual return to Town was still, so to speak, the vanishing point of her perspective; but the lines were four years long, and in the meantime, for her consolation, there was this new and startling discovery: that the country is populated by really quite interesting persons.'
Throughout, I loved Sharp's attention to detail; her thorough descriptions throughout the novel make The Flowering Thorn feel truly tangible, and quite atmospheric at times too. Sharp is highly aware of her protagonist, and her changing feelings, and has a real eye for building realistic characters. I enjoyed this novel a great deal, and I hope to spend far more time with the rest of Sharp's oeuvre in future. She is a long overlooked, highly considerate, and really quite underappreciated author, and I would urge you to pick at least one of her books up - and soon.
May 13, 2023
If I hadn't admired and loved Margery Sharp before, I would have started now.
The way she portrayed the Flapper Generation of the Roaring Twenties was a bit different than the portraits in more known novels like: "The Great Gatsby" or "The Sun Also Rises". And it was very interesting.
Of course, I got here also a charming look at an English village of that time.
Yet, absolutely the best and most important part was motherhood. I know from Sharp's other books, she had an original (and modern) view of it. So, it was not totally new to me. I think that each future and present mother should know such a point of view too. It will save much trouble and sadness.
And, I simply adored Lesley. She was one of the most wonderful and fascinating characters I have ever read. Her changes (and her detachment) were shown brilliantly. Slowly (yet, not boring). You know all those movies when a man or a woman becomes an (adopting, etc.) parent suddenly, and after a few "big moments" she or he would do everything for a child. Margery Sharp wrote a true and honest study of such a situation, not like in those slapsticks.
The way she portrayed the Flapper Generation of the Roaring Twenties was a bit different than the portraits in more known novels like: "The Great Gatsby" or "The Sun Also Rises". And it was very interesting.
Of course, I got here also a charming look at an English village of that time.
Yet, absolutely the best and most important part was motherhood. I know from Sharp's other books, she had an original (and modern) view of it. So, it was not totally new to me. I think that each future and present mother should know such a point of view too. It will save much trouble and sadness.
"A child should be - how can I put it? - not too much concentrated on. That's the real advantage of a large family. An only child supporting the whole weight of the mother's emotions - and sometimes the father's as well - he leads the most exhausting life on earth"
"Because you don't try to possess him," (...) "You don't want to."
"I think of all the mill-stones round a child's neck gratitude is the worst.
And, I simply adored Lesley. She was one of the most wonderful and fascinating characters I have ever read. Her changes (and her detachment) were shown brilliantly. Slowly (yet, not boring). You know all those movies when a man or a woman becomes an (adopting, etc.) parent suddenly, and after a few "big moments" she or he would do everything for a child. Margery Sharp wrote a true and honest study of such a situation, not like in those slapsticks.
...Lesley suddenly realised that she no longer minded doing so.
She was beginning to be beloved, and she was already essential.
August 19, 2018
Lesley is a young woman with an independent income whose life is all parties, theatres, and dining out. Her life changes when on impulse she adopts Patrick, a four year old boy who has been very suddenly orphaned, and finding it impossibly expensive to live with him in London (the suburbs are out of the question), moves to a cottage in Buckinghamshire (this shows you how old this book is, nowadays picturesque old cottages in Buckinghamshire are not to be had cheaply). She knows nothing about children, or the country, and is not very interested in either, but finds herself gradually drawn into country life, and slowly a warmer relationship develops between her and Patrick.
Nothing very dramatic happens in this story, but it is a pleasure to read about Lesley's growing appreciation of the place she lives in and the people she lives amongst, and how she gradually finds herself turning from a towns woman into a countrywoman) I would have liked perhaps a little more interaction with Patrick, he is an endearing child, and his affection for The Tailor of Gloucester forms a bond (it was my favourite book when I was four also), but if I had been Lesley I would have bought him all Beatrix Potter's other books, and a teddy bear and some toy soldiers and a train set and a rocking horse and - well, she gives him a home anyway,which is more Important. a charming book.
Nothing very dramatic happens in this story, but it is a pleasure to read about Lesley's growing appreciation of the place she lives in and the people she lives amongst, and how she gradually finds herself turning from a towns woman into a countrywoman) I would have liked perhaps a little more interaction with Patrick, he is an endearing child, and his affection for The Tailor of Gloucester forms a bond (it was my favourite book when I was four also), but if I had been Lesley I would have bought him all Beatrix Potter's other books, and a teddy bear and some toy soldiers and a train set and a rocking horse and - well, she gives him a home anyway,which is more Important. a charming book.
February 22, 2018
When a relative's companion dies, 28-year-old Lesley Frewen impulsively adopts the four-year-old Patrick left behind. Regarding the child as little more than a pet, Lesley soon learns that children need a certain environment to thrive, and 1920s London isn't it, at least as part of her socialite life. So Lesley moves to the country and takes a cottage. Little by little country life seems to grow on the young woman. Of course the reader realizes that it is the young woman who is growing.
One of my pet peeves, is plot moppets who lisp their way through a novel. There's none of that in this book. Patrick is very much in the background, while the focus is on Lesley and her growth, until returning to London becomes impossible for her.
The account of country life and the individuals who make up her household and neighbors are what make this book so charming. Margery Sharp at her best.
My blog:
The Intersitital Reader
https://theinterstitialreader.wordpre...
One of my pet peeves, is plot moppets who lisp their way through a novel. There's none of that in this book. Patrick is very much in the background, while the focus is on Lesley and her growth, until returning to London becomes impossible for her.
The account of country life and the individuals who make up her household and neighbors are what make this book so charming. Margery Sharp at her best.
My blog:
The Intersitital Reader
https://theinterstitialreader.wordpre...
April 4, 2010
(Hardcover/Used/Out of Print). Very happy I was able to track this one down. Published in the US in 1934, good luck finding it, even at your local library.
Lesley Frewen is a jaded, pampered and well partied 28 year old in 1929 London. She shocks her friends and few elderly relatives by taking on (never formerly adopting) a 4 year old orphan. Lesley, totally self centered and not in the least maternal makes another not well thought out decision and opts to move herself and the child to a pretty primitive cottage in the country. She knows she can send the child to boarding school when he's 8 1/2 and looks at this as a self imposed four year exile. She is the flowering thorn. Highly recommend.
http://web.me.com/genusrosa/Margery_S...
Lesley Frewen is a jaded, pampered and well partied 28 year old in 1929 London. She shocks her friends and few elderly relatives by taking on (never formerly adopting) a 4 year old orphan. Lesley, totally self centered and not in the least maternal makes another not well thought out decision and opts to move herself and the child to a pretty primitive cottage in the country. She knows she can send the child to boarding school when he's 8 1/2 and looks at this as a self imposed four year exile. She is the flowering thorn. Highly recommend.
http://web.me.com/genusrosa/Margery_S...
February 18, 2017
Lesley Frewen, a socialite in the late '20's, is bored. On the spur of the moment she adopts a young boy, Patrick, who has lost both his parents and has no other family. Lesley, unfortunately, comes across as very repressed. She basically ignores poor little Patrick; he spends most of their first year together playing alone in the orchard of the country cottage they move to. To be honest, I found the lack of interest in Patrick rather heart-rending. The rest of the book is essentially about Lesley's growth as a human being into someone less self-oriented. Lesley never really became a very likeable person from the reader's perspective. She does, however, develop a very nice life in the country. I enjoyed the writing style and the story development. Lesley I wasn't crazy about.
May 14, 2018
Published in 1934, this novel begins with a detached young modern woman living the high life in London. She gets bored and decides, offhandedly, to adopt a four-year-old child and bury herself in a country cottage. Her character transformation and her growth into a person deeply connected with the world around her makes a beautiful, cleverly-written story. Sharp's mastery of creating memorable minor characters pervades in this novel.
March 22, 2020
What a Wonderful Book!
This woman can write. Not to belabor the point, but how may writers can write of ten characters and give each one an individual voice? And her understanding of human nature is amazing. This book was written in 1934. Sharp never fails to delight me. A book written more than 80 years ago that is better than most of the things you find in 2020.
This woman can write. Not to belabor the point, but how may writers can write of ten characters and give each one an individual voice? And her understanding of human nature is amazing. This book was written in 1934. Sharp never fails to delight me. A book written more than 80 years ago that is better than most of the things you find in 2020.
November 29, 2018
I like Margery Sharp’s writing. She’s observant, witty, and sets a scene well. Her surname fits her well. I’ve read several of her books for adults and enjoyed them all. This one was problematic for me though.
First, way too much of the book was about setting up what a shallow, vain, disdainful, and unemotional Bright Young Thing the main character is. I disliked everything about her and found it difficult to get through that part, which seemed to go on forever.
As a cure for boredom, and to show off, she adopts the 4-year old son of a relative’s recently-dead paid companion. She moves to the country and there, she learns a few things, but not as much as one would hope. She even briefly grieves when a friend dies, wonder of wonders.
I guess the first part of the book was needed to make a contrast with the *slightly* less unemotional, detached, and unsympathetic person she becomes by the end of the book. In the final scene, we’re supposed to applaud the fact that she feels a momentary pang of emotion about sending her now 8-year-old off to a boarding school.
After some reading, it turns out that Sharp disdained “mother love” and felt that the more detached and business like a mother was, the better. I guess this accounts for the fact that her main character doesn’t expect or allow for any grief from the child over his mother’s death. She treats him more like a dog than a child. She never buys him any toys, and feels that the toys that were left by his mother in a trunk were too trashy and sentimental to pass on to the child.
The child is incredibly unrealistic. He never misses his mother, never even seems to notice she’s gone. There is no fall-out whatsoever from the loss and then being taken in by a stranger who clearly has no emotional bandwidth or sympathy. No bed wetting, no crying, no withdrawal. He’s a cardboard prop to advance the story and on which the main character can practice becoming human.
I’d give it one star, but the added a star for Sharp’s characteristic good writing. I kept reading because of that and because I thought she might finally develop her shallow characters, but it was not to be.
First, way too much of the book was about setting up what a shallow, vain, disdainful, and unemotional Bright Young Thing the main character is. I disliked everything about her and found it difficult to get through that part, which seemed to go on forever.
As a cure for boredom, and to show off, she adopts the 4-year old son of a relative’s recently-dead paid companion. She moves to the country and there, she learns a few things, but not as much as one would hope. She even briefly grieves when a friend dies, wonder of wonders.
I guess the first part of the book was needed to make a contrast with the *slightly* less unemotional, detached, and unsympathetic person she becomes by the end of the book. In the final scene, we’re supposed to applaud the fact that she feels a momentary pang of emotion about sending her now 8-year-old off to a boarding school.
After some reading, it turns out that Sharp disdained “mother love” and felt that the more detached and business like a mother was, the better. I guess this accounts for the fact that her main character doesn’t expect or allow for any grief from the child over his mother’s death. She treats him more like a dog than a child. She never buys him any toys, and feels that the toys that were left by his mother in a trunk were too trashy and sentimental to pass on to the child.
The child is incredibly unrealistic. He never misses his mother, never even seems to notice she’s gone. There is no fall-out whatsoever from the loss and then being taken in by a stranger who clearly has no emotional bandwidth or sympathy. No bed wetting, no crying, no withdrawal. He’s a cardboard prop to advance the story and on which the main character can practice becoming human.
I’d give it one star, but the added a star for Sharp’s characteristic good writing. I kept reading because of that and because I thought she might finally develop her shallow characters, but it was not to be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2020
I was intrigued when I heard that the author of children’s book, The Rescuers, had also written novels for adults so I quickly downloaded one of her books from my library. The Flowering Thorn refers to Lesley Frewen, a twenty-something, empty-headed twit whose purpose in life is to attend cocktail parties and make men fall in love with her while never committing to any of them.
Although the story takes place in 1929, Lesley is not your typical vintage heroine. The ones I’m used to (in D.E. Stevenson and O. Buchan books, for example) are down-and-out yet never vulgar. I winced at the descriptions of Lesley’s profane vocabulary, her agnosticism and her modern thinking on many topics. Sharp includes no unsavory details, but these attributes made it hard for me to root for the protagonist.
Still, the story was compelling enough to keep me reading. Would she or wouldn’t she wake up and finally discover what was important? Another thing that kept me going was Sharp’s excellent writing. Early in the book Lesley goes to a party that “was a silly mess that only gin could hold together.” She longs for “something real” and “something worth doing” so she abruptly decides to adopt an orphan to escape boredom. She doesn’t even like the boy, but moves out of her ritzy apartment to a ramshackle cottage in the country to be able to afford to take care of him. There she slowly learns to value the simple pleasures of gardening, reading, knitting, cooking, etc. After living in the country for several years, she realizes “She was never bored at all. There was a continual deepening of acquaintance; instead of knowing a hundred people by sight, she knew half a dozen by heart.”
In spite of my reservations about the novel, it was satisfying to watch Lesley evolve into her own person (rather than mirror the women in her previous social circles) and to build a more meaningful life.
Although the story takes place in 1929, Lesley is not your typical vintage heroine. The ones I’m used to (in D.E. Stevenson and O. Buchan books, for example) are down-and-out yet never vulgar. I winced at the descriptions of Lesley’s profane vocabulary, her agnosticism and her modern thinking on many topics. Sharp includes no unsavory details, but these attributes made it hard for me to root for the protagonist.
Still, the story was compelling enough to keep me reading. Would she or wouldn’t she wake up and finally discover what was important? Another thing that kept me going was Sharp’s excellent writing. Early in the book Lesley goes to a party that “was a silly mess that only gin could hold together.” She longs for “something real” and “something worth doing” so she abruptly decides to adopt an orphan to escape boredom. She doesn’t even like the boy, but moves out of her ritzy apartment to a ramshackle cottage in the country to be able to afford to take care of him. There she slowly learns to value the simple pleasures of gardening, reading, knitting, cooking, etc. After living in the country for several years, she realizes “She was never bored at all. There was a continual deepening of acquaintance; instead of knowing a hundred people by sight, she knew half a dozen by heart.”
In spite of my reservations about the novel, it was satisfying to watch Lesley evolve into her own person (rather than mirror the women in her previous social circles) and to build a more meaningful life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2020
Wow, what a positive surprise. This remarkable book is from the same author as “The Rescuers”, a wonderful children’s book with a very different tone. I would never have guessed. I will immediately be searching for more books by Margery Sharp.
The main character is a vapid woman-about-town of the upperclass 1920s, who has a glimmer of humanity within her. That glimmer grows slowly through varied yet believable circumstances after she adopts a 4 year old orphan on impulse. About 45% into the book, her personal growth takes a beautiful turn that was as welcome to me, the reader, as a gorgeous sunny day. I do enjoy people becoming their best selves. That growth continues in fashions consistent with the main character until the end. I didn’t want the book to finish!
There were many sentences so cleverly written that I had to stop and re-read them and catch the meaning. I’m impressed by Sharp’s mastery of language. She also moved me deeply. Consider how much is said in these simple lines:
“She had scraps for a dog, milk for a cat, bread for a child, a wage for an old woman: she had a roof and a fire and a door to shut or open. She was beginning to be beloved, and she was already essential.”
The main character is a vapid woman-about-town of the upperclass 1920s, who has a glimmer of humanity within her. That glimmer grows slowly through varied yet believable circumstances after she adopts a 4 year old orphan on impulse. About 45% into the book, her personal growth takes a beautiful turn that was as welcome to me, the reader, as a gorgeous sunny day. I do enjoy people becoming their best selves. That growth continues in fashions consistent with the main character until the end. I didn’t want the book to finish!
There were many sentences so cleverly written that I had to stop and re-read them and catch the meaning. I’m impressed by Sharp’s mastery of language. She also moved me deeply. Consider how much is said in these simple lines:
“She had scraps for a dog, milk for a cat, bread for a child, a wage for an old woman: she had a roof and a fire and a door to shut or open. She was beginning to be beloved, and she was already essential.”
April 3, 2008
I really, really enjoyed this book, which describes how a socialite decides to adopt a child. She starts very selfishly, thinking of it as a sort of hobby, and of course ends up becoming a better person and even a good mother. The depictions of her shallow friends, who sneer at her new lifestyle, are very funny.
I plan to read more Margery Sharp because I enjoyed this, and "Something Light," so much.
I plan to read more Margery Sharp because I enjoyed this, and "Something Light," so much.
November 16, 2017
I like Margery Sharp so much that I'm making myself ration the books out at a respectable interval. They witty and smart and emotional without being cloying or melodramatic and twee. In this one, a bored society girl adopts a young boy on a whim and must then retreat to the country to begrudgingly (kind of) raise him. Of course, she finds that it's really where she belongs but there's absolutely none of the sentimentality in it, as you'd get with so many other writers.
May 25, 2021
Bright young London socialite finds her life is empty, and unofficially adopts an orphan on his way to the orphanage. I enjoyed the light humor of the "city girl becomes adept country cousin" plot. Alas, very near the end, I found one anti-semitic line that had no purpose, was entirely gratuitous. The pleasure that I felt reading this otherwise entertaining novel was thus marred. Other than that, delightful.
June 18, 2016
*4.5 Stars*
December 27, 2024
I loved this book! What a lovely surprise! Quiet
and gracefully written.
and gracefully written.
November 20, 2018
What a nice story. The main character’s friends got a bit annoying at one point but, overall, I really liked this story.
July 18, 2019
Loved it. So evocative and her growth was shown and not told in the slightest. So very well done.
May 19, 2023
For this to work, I had to consider the child in it a plot token -- not at all an actual human being with his own interiority, because it is clear that Sharp has absolutely no idea that children are people, or that their personhood matters, and I really did want to enjoy the book. So all right, the child is a plot token, and with that in mind I really enjoyed this tale of a Bright Young Thing coming to love life in the country and domestic virtues entirely on her own terms. She engages in the hard work it takes to create a life that she finds meaningful and enjoyable, and she doesn't do it for A Manne but because she is stubborn about her committments and then because she is moving into her own grounded adult self. I was so surprised that it is all for her own sake that she does these things -- for the child's sake, too, but remember, the child is just a Plot Token for her to find herself, because this was written in the early 1930s and Sharp was who she was.
I read this at the beginning of my Portland vacation and it set the tone for a lovely trip. I hope more Sharp is like this!
I read this at the beginning of my Portland vacation and it set the tone for a lovely trip. I hope more Sharp is like this!
September 27, 2016
Surprised me
Not the type of book I usually read, but the reviews pricked my interest. One review yearned for a sequel and I decided on the book for that reason. That it did not have a sequel meant that it was a full story, an unusual idea in this age where every book seems to have no ending but is a segment of a story to be carried on ad Infiniti till one becomes completely bored with the story and the characters.
The story and characters hold true from start to finish. One may not agree with the main character's feelings towards life and people, but you find you not only understand the characters point of view you find it based on reality that all people are not alike. Lesley takes on the rearing of a child for selfish, but for her, necessary reasons. She not only is successful in the undertaking for the child's well-being but for her own character as well.
The most surprising thing for me was, at the end of the book, I wanted a sequel. I missed the characters and story immediately and that, to me, is the sign of a good book and a good story.
Not the type of book I usually read, but the reviews pricked my interest. One review yearned for a sequel and I decided on the book for that reason. That it did not have a sequel meant that it was a full story, an unusual idea in this age where every book seems to have no ending but is a segment of a story to be carried on ad Infiniti till one becomes completely bored with the story and the characters.
The story and characters hold true from start to finish. One may not agree with the main character's feelings towards life and people, but you find you not only understand the characters point of view you find it based on reality that all people are not alike. Lesley takes on the rearing of a child for selfish, but for her, necessary reasons. She not only is successful in the undertaking for the child's well-being but for her own character as well.
The most surprising thing for me was, at the end of the book, I wanted a sequel. I missed the characters and story immediately and that, to me, is the sign of a good book and a good story.
April 18, 2020
Second reading of this delightful little book. I didn't record the first in my book catalogue, but although it was familiar it was well worth another look. Published in 1934 it provides humorous insight into the brittle social whirl of London high society contrasted with the simpler, more genuine life of the country. It is increasingly easy to like the main character, Lesley, and to relate to her foibles and strengths as she leaves London and adjusts to country life and to her role of adoptive mother to a small boy. In general the characters are original and well-drawn, the dialogue is brisk, the story is well-paced and engaging. There is enough wit and irony laced into the story to save it from being sentimental while allowing for the development of heartfelt friendships and a hint of romance. It's all in the telling, so it may be worth reading again in a few years when I've forgotten the details. Certainly I will read another of Margery Sharp's novels, perhaps The Nutmeg Tree next.
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