Armour Wherein He Trusted

by Mary Webb

Webb's unfinished novel, published posthumously, together with ten short stories, this is a medieval romance. It is the story of Sir Gilbert and his love for Nesta. Whilst delighting in love's pleasures, he strives to renounce earthly passion, seeking instead spiritual perfection.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

253 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Mary Webb (1881-1927) was an English romantic novelist of the early 20th century, whose novels were set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people which she knew and loved well. Although she was acclaimed by John Buchan and by Rebecca West, who hailed her as a genius, and won the Prix Femina of La Vie Heureuse for Precious Bane (1924), she won little respect from the general public. It was only after her death that the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, earned her posthumous success through his approbation, referring to her as a neglected genius at a Literary Fund dinner in 1928.

Her writing is notable for its descriptions of nature, and of the human heart. She had a deep sympathy for all her characters and was able to see good and truth in all of them. Among her most famous works are: The Golden Arrow (1916), Gone to Earth (1917), and Seven for a Secret (1922).

Reviews

[JimZ]

I did not read the novella, which is what ‘Armour Wherein He Trusted’ is. I didn’t read it, because I didn’t think I would enjoy it (and apparently Webb didn’t want it to be published, see below)...but I did read the subsequent 10 short stories that were in the book. They were not all that good. 😑 😑 😑 I will not rate this collected piece because I did not read the novella...I would give the stories 2.5 stars....some were 2- and some were 3-starrers.

I will say that if you are down in the dumps and want to get even downer in the dumps then read, out of the 10 short stories, ‘In Affection and Esteem’ and ‘Blessed are the Meek’. In Affection and Esteem’ the lonely unloved poor and overworked women has never had anybody send her flowers. So she saves and scrimps and buys flowers for herself, to be delivered to her by a florist on her birthday (with no name though on the flower box. Just ‘In Affection and Esteem’). She waits excitedly for the flowers to be delivered, but the flowers never come to her. That is because the landlady of the house sent the delivered flowers to another more attractive women whom she thought the flowers were supposed to be for, because she reasoned the protagonist would never get flowers delivered to her.... And in ‘Blessed are the Meek’, a woman who once had a happy life became through no fault of her own destitute and sent to a workhouse, and a bishop came to the workhouse and preached about the kingdom of Heaven and the woman believed the kingdom of Heaven was only for well-to-do people and not for people in the workhouse. So she told the bishop that, and he recommended she be sent to the asylum part of the workhouse which was even worse than the workhouse for non-crazy people, so she hung herself. 😧 😧 😧

Although Mary Webb wrote the stories and submitted them for publication in periodicals (as far as I know at least 4 of them were published), she did not want the novella to be published. This is from the introduction of the Virago Modern Classics re-issue:
• In the month before her death in 1927. Mary Webb attempted to destroy her last novel, Armour Wherein He Trusted’. Probably begun as early as 1925, the manuscript was unfinished and handwritten when Mary Webb, in despair and ill health, first attempted to rip it part and, failing that, threw it into the fire. She then repented of the act, and in a long telephone conversation assured St. John Adcock that she could recall the novel word for word and would begin to rewrite it immediately. Her husband, however, had saved the manuscript, although Mary Webb was never to complete it. (She died at an early age of 46 of Graves' Disease.)

Review:
https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2...

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange little book, being made up of an unfinished novel, written in a very different style to the other Mary Webb novels, and a collection of short stories and sketches that appeared in various publications. I enjoyed the unfinished novel, although it didn't have any of the grandeur or poetic language and imagery of the other books, but the style somehow suited the story of a young... boy, really... who falls in love and goes off to fight in the Crusades.

However, it was the short stories and sketches that I really enjoyed, although the introduction rather belittles them, as being of "unequal merit" and basically not a patch on the novels because they can't contain any of the deep characterisation that the novels do. But I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love the poetic language and imagery of the other novels and the wildness of the landscape and the spirit of the characters, but I think that Mary Webb can find one sentence and sum up that whole character in just a few words and, for me, she does so in these "scrappy" writings - (even if most of the endings aren't exactly upbeat!)

My favourite is a short story called 'In Affection and Esteem'. Reading this particular story was like seeing my own life in print - a study in disappointment and frustrated dreams!

And just a little postscript: On the inside cover, on the faded and browned paper, indented heavily by decades of being pushed tight into a bookshelf, was written, in pencil and a tiny neat hand, "B. Berry Parklands Aug 1932" and I thought of the neat, little lady, sitting in her large house, surrounded by rhododendrons, turning the exact same pages as me, 80 years ago, when they were still crisp and white. You don't get THAT with a Kindle!!

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slowly rereading all the books of one of my favourite authors. Mary Webb never fails to delight me and I’m so pleased that I now own them so can indulge anytime I wish. Food for the soul.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even an unfinished novel by Mary Webb is worth a read. There are only glimpses of her beautiful and poetic nature prose and the medieval language is a bit opaque but I enjoyed it and its a shame it wasn't finished as I was intrigued by its direction. The rest of the book is made up of her stories and I really enjoyed these; some beautiful writing once again and some lovely ideas, even if they do sometimes feel underdeveloped. Worth reading for the wonderful stories, the unfinished novella is probably for more hardcore fans only.

[Allyson Shaw]

I enjoyed the novel fragment- jewel-like prose and a fairy tale narrative, creepy at turns and beautifully strange. I wish it had been finished- it is a gaping, unanswered question. The stories are all purple and unforgivably sentimental and yet there are moments of genuine pathos. One senses the writer trapped in the notions of her day, wanting both a wide audience as well as to speak truth, and is trapped in between.

[Jenny Marchant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not I am afraid her best in my opinion, and not one I would recommend.

[Nick Iiames · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Webb certainly has a very differentiated vernacular and one that i do appreciate, though also tends to confuse me. often times i felt like i was spirited away to the Middle Ages when reading these short stories, especially the titular one, but in the same vein that i’d literally not understand what those people’s speech back then meant, that too is the crux of her own writing, despite being a fairly modern author.

all that to say is, my opinion is more of appreciation rather than outright likability of this collection of short stories. i am interested in her other works, though, as i do feel like she may hit a more understandable middle ground between this interesting linguistic style and being easier to follow in her more popular works.

[Jim Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd but compelling work from the fever brain of Mary Webb. Written in a fake medieval style, this story of a 12th century knight's conflict between serving God (as a crusader!) and his own desire, a fair maiden of Faerie origins, should seem overwrought and ridiculous but somehow it works!