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Martha #1
The Eye of Love
They met at the Chelsea Arts Ball: he went as a paper parcel, and she as a Spanish dancer. Harry Gibson and Miss Diver fell deeply in love... But when Mr Gibson decides he'll have to marry the hopelessly unprepossessing daughter of his colleague in order to save his ailing business, Miss Diver is cut off without a penny. She's forced in turn to take in a lodger, Mr Philips, who mistakenly takes Miss Diver for a much richer woman than she is... Watching over them all is Miss Diver's niece Martha, a clumpy, unappealing child of a certain artistic genius.
222 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
About the author
Margery Sharp
80 books186 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 33 reviews
March 15, 2018
The Eye of Love, written in 1957 but set in 1932, is kind of an odd duck of a novel. There's a love story but it's a very offbeat one, more about humanity generally than romance feelz. And there's an ensemble set of quirky characters, all of whom get a fair amount of focus.
The main story revolves around the star-crossed romance of Harry Gibson and Dolores Diver: she's a skinny, ex-shop girl who's now 40; he's the portly owner of a fur coat store who's in his 50s. She's been his kept woman for ten years (because, you know, important merchants just don't marry shop girls, at least in that day). But they're deeply in love. He's her King Hal; she's his Spanish rose. Awww! And even though everyone else in the world thinks they're unattractive people, they're beautiful to each other because they love each other.
But then the trouble hits, right at the start of the novel: Harry's store is on the verge of bankruptcy (depression era, remember) and his mother convinces him that he needs to marry one Miranda Joyce, spinster daughter of the owner of a prestigious line of stores, and then the businesses will be merged. Everyone - Miranda, her father, Harry - understands the plan. It breaks Harry's heart to break up with his beloved Miss Diver, but he does, after a truly weepy, bathetic scene in which both are trying to Be Brave and Carry On.
The main story revolves around the star-crossed romance of Harry Gibson and Dolores Diver: she's a skinny, ex-shop girl who's now 40; he's the portly owner of a fur coat store who's in his 50s. She's been his kept woman for ten years (because, you know, important merchants just don't marry shop girls, at least in that day). But they're deeply in love. He's her King Hal; she's his Spanish rose. Awww! And even though everyone else in the world thinks they're unattractive people, they're beautiful to each other because they love each other.
But then the trouble hits, right at the start of the novel: Harry's store is on the verge of bankruptcy (depression era, remember) and his mother convinces him that he needs to marry one Miranda Joyce, spinster daughter of the owner of a prestigious line of stores, and then the businesses will be merged. Everyone - Miranda, her father, Harry - understands the plan. It breaks Harry's heart to break up with his beloved Miss Diver, but he does, after a truly weepy, bathetic scene in which both are trying to Be Brave and Carry On.
It was no use, it was too soon to talk rationally, they had to break off and comfort each other.The story follows these characters, as well as Miss Diver's 9 year old stolid but artistic orphaned niece Martha, over the next several months. It wasn't really my type of novel, but if you appreciate offbeat characters who are well-drawn, in a historical setting, with some dry humor, you may want to check it out. I bought the two sequels (in which the niece Martha becomes the main character) on a Kindle sale at the same time, so at some point I'll probably still give them a read.
“Dolores!” cried Mr Gibson—his voice shaking too.
“My Big Harry! My King Hal!” cried Miss Diver.
“My Spanish rose!” cried Mr Gibson.
They clung in genuine and ridiculous grief, collapsed together on the Rexine settee.
August 10, 2024
Margery Sharp is now on my list for dinner guests I'd love to have come around.
She is humorous, warm, and intelligent. Her powers of observation are, like her name, sharp . . . as a child's. She is likely to have a good appetite as the amount of food here suggests. She is sensory, tactile, and would appreciate the efforts to which I would gladly roll up my sleeves in a kitchen to prepare.
This novel set during the Depression is as cheering as Jimmy Stewart movies of that era. Set in London, it's real right down to the contents in gutters to the tears of heartache and joy. No Downton Abbey. These are ordinary people who often eat from cans off shelves. Their parenting is not book perfect. It's come as you go. Yet, somehow they inspire. With their eye for beauty, they remind us what power resides in how we look upon the world. There's a gas oven in this story, but you're not to worry. It's drawn by a child who just thinks it's beautiful. She lives in a house with a couple who, dressed as a Spanish dancer and a paper parcel, fall in love. But then, the road as they say to true love is never smooth.
Elizabeth Bowen said after reading The Eye of Love "I don't think I've so often laughed or so nearly cried for quite a long time." Same here. This won't be my last Margery Sharp.
She is humorous, warm, and intelligent. Her powers of observation are, like her name, sharp . . . as a child's. She is likely to have a good appetite as the amount of food here suggests. She is sensory, tactile, and would appreciate the efforts to which I would gladly roll up my sleeves in a kitchen to prepare.
This novel set during the Depression is as cheering as Jimmy Stewart movies of that era. Set in London, it's real right down to the contents in gutters to the tears of heartache and joy. No Downton Abbey. These are ordinary people who often eat from cans off shelves. Their parenting is not book perfect. It's come as you go. Yet, somehow they inspire. With their eye for beauty, they remind us what power resides in how we look upon the world. There's a gas oven in this story, but you're not to worry. It's drawn by a child who just thinks it's beautiful. She lives in a house with a couple who, dressed as a Spanish dancer and a paper parcel, fall in love. But then, the road as they say to true love is never smooth.
Elizabeth Bowen said after reading The Eye of Love "I don't think I've so often laughed or so nearly cried for quite a long time." Same here. This won't be my last Margery Sharp.
February 7, 2017
‘The Eye of Love’was the first of Margery Sharp’s books I read, back in the days when it was a Virago Modern Classic. The founder of the Library Thing Virago group – a lovely lady named Paola – mentioned that Margery Sharp was one of her favourite authors, I liked the sound of this book, and so I picked up a copy.
I loved it!
I loved the two sequels!
Margery Sharp became one of my favourite authors!
When a whole set of Margery Sharp’s out of print books – including this one and its sequels – were sent back out into the world last year, by Open Road Media, I thought it might be time to revisit ‘The Eye of Love’.
It was!
I loved it all over again!
‘The Eye of Love’ is a quirky and charming fairy-tale romance like no other that I have ever read.
It tells the story of a middle-aged couple: Miss Dolores Diver, a rather gawky middle-aged lady, who wears a comb in hair and shawl around her shoulders because believes she has the looks and the character of a Spanish Rose type; and Mr Harry Gibson, a rather stout gentleman who has inherited responsibility for his family business.
In the hands of some authors such characters would appear silly or foolish; but not in Margery Sharp’s hands. She writes about them with great wit, with great affection, and with understanding of their foibles and their perception of each other, looking through the eye of love.
She made me love them, and she made them utterly real.
A rather eccentrically dressed lady I see in town might be a Miss Diver; a quite unremarkable man I see dressed for business might be a Mr Gibson.
I love that!
I love that every single person I might pass in the street has their own life story to be told, and – I hope – somebody who sees them through the eye of love.
Harry & Dolores had happy years together, enjoying simple pleasures and precious hour that they spent together, but they were to be separated. Harry’s business was struggling, he had a chance to make that business – and his widowed mother’s life – secure, but that depended on his marrying the daughter of his new business partner.
He didn’t like it at all, but he knew that he had to do the right thing
The lovers are both distraught, and while Dolores struggles to manage without Harry’s financial and practical support, Harry struggles to work up any enthusiasm for the wedding and new home that his mother and his fiancée are happily planning.
What will happen?
Will true love conquer all?
Wrapped around this romantic comedy is the beginning of the story of Martha, Miss Diver’s orphaned niece. Martha is a stolid and self-possessed little girl, a true individual who is sweetly oblivious to the cares and concerns of others and sails through life’s storms, set on the course that she knows is right for her.
Martha’s passion is art, and all she wants to do is draw the world around her. She is single-minded in her quest for the materials and the time she needs to do that, and along the way she both helps and hinders her aunt in her new role as a landlady; as well as acquiring a very interesting and very sensible patron.
Margery Sharp spins a story that is both lovely and clever in this book. Her writing has both wit and charm, and is acute without ever being unkind. I think that she understood, and that she smiled at her characters.
There are so many lovely details, and a great many moments that strike a chord.
I loved the friendship that blossomed between Harry and his future father-in law. I was entertained by the machinations of the ladies who worked in Harry’s showroom. I was concerned when Dolores’s lodger took her to be a wealthier woman that she was and began to lay plans. I had horribly mixed feeling as I saw how happy and proud Harry’s mother was during the wedding preparations. I was interested in what Martha learned as she drew the gas oven.
Those are just a few of a great many things.
Most of all, I cared about the plight of the star-crossed lovers.
I knew the ending I wanted – and of course I remembered it from the first time I read the book – but I didn’t remember exactly how the story got there until it did.
That ending – and the whole story – was so cleverly constructed and so well told.
I loved the balance of the predictable and the unpredictable.
The first time I read ‘The Eye of Love’ I saw Dolores and Harry as the stars, and it was only when I moved on the sequels that I realised how significant it was that this was the beginning of Martha’s story.
She is definitely a one-off, but she is also an archetypal Margery Sharp heroine: an honest and independent woman, following her own instincts rather that social convention, and charting her own, independent course through life.
I have to love that!
You really should meet Martha. And Harry. And Delores. And Mr Joyce ….
I’m sorry that I shall be leaving Dolores and Harry behind, but I’m looking forward to following Martha’s adventures when she goes to art school in Paris all over again.
I loved it!
I loved the two sequels!
Margery Sharp became one of my favourite authors!
When a whole set of Margery Sharp’s out of print books – including this one and its sequels – were sent back out into the world last year, by Open Road Media, I thought it might be time to revisit ‘The Eye of Love’.
It was!
I loved it all over again!
‘The Eye of Love’ is a quirky and charming fairy-tale romance like no other that I have ever read.
It tells the story of a middle-aged couple: Miss Dolores Diver, a rather gawky middle-aged lady, who wears a comb in hair and shawl around her shoulders because believes she has the looks and the character of a Spanish Rose type; and Mr Harry Gibson, a rather stout gentleman who has inherited responsibility for his family business.
In the hands of some authors such characters would appear silly or foolish; but not in Margery Sharp’s hands. She writes about them with great wit, with great affection, and with understanding of their foibles and their perception of each other, looking through the eye of love.
She made me love them, and she made them utterly real.
A rather eccentrically dressed lady I see in town might be a Miss Diver; a quite unremarkable man I see dressed for business might be a Mr Gibson.
I love that!
I love that every single person I might pass in the street has their own life story to be told, and – I hope – somebody who sees them through the eye of love.
Harry & Dolores had happy years together, enjoying simple pleasures and precious hour that they spent together, but they were to be separated. Harry’s business was struggling, he had a chance to make that business – and his widowed mother’s life – secure, but that depended on his marrying the daughter of his new business partner.
He didn’t like it at all, but he knew that he had to do the right thing
The lovers are both distraught, and while Dolores struggles to manage without Harry’s financial and practical support, Harry struggles to work up any enthusiasm for the wedding and new home that his mother and his fiancée are happily planning.
What will happen?
Will true love conquer all?
Wrapped around this romantic comedy is the beginning of the story of Martha, Miss Diver’s orphaned niece. Martha is a stolid and self-possessed little girl, a true individual who is sweetly oblivious to the cares and concerns of others and sails through life’s storms, set on the course that she knows is right for her.
Martha’s passion is art, and all she wants to do is draw the world around her. She is single-minded in her quest for the materials and the time she needs to do that, and along the way she both helps and hinders her aunt in her new role as a landlady; as well as acquiring a very interesting and very sensible patron.
Margery Sharp spins a story that is both lovely and clever in this book. Her writing has both wit and charm, and is acute without ever being unkind. I think that she understood, and that she smiled at her characters.
There are so many lovely details, and a great many moments that strike a chord.
I loved the friendship that blossomed between Harry and his future father-in law. I was entertained by the machinations of the ladies who worked in Harry’s showroom. I was concerned when Dolores’s lodger took her to be a wealthier woman that she was and began to lay plans. I had horribly mixed feeling as I saw how happy and proud Harry’s mother was during the wedding preparations. I was interested in what Martha learned as she drew the gas oven.
Those are just a few of a great many things.
Most of all, I cared about the plight of the star-crossed lovers.
I knew the ending I wanted – and of course I remembered it from the first time I read the book – but I didn’t remember exactly how the story got there until it did.
That ending – and the whole story – was so cleverly constructed and so well told.
I loved the balance of the predictable and the unpredictable.
The first time I read ‘The Eye of Love’ I saw Dolores and Harry as the stars, and it was only when I moved on the sequels that I realised how significant it was that this was the beginning of Martha’s story.
She is definitely a one-off, but she is also an archetypal Margery Sharp heroine: an honest and independent woman, following her own instincts rather that social convention, and charting her own, independent course through life.
I have to love that!
You really should meet Martha. And Harry. And Delores. And Mr Joyce ….
I’m sorry that I shall be leaving Dolores and Harry behind, but I’m looking forward to following Martha’s adventures when she goes to art school in Paris all over again.
July 28, 2016
Another gem from Margery Sharp!
This one features a romance between two very un-romance-novel-like characters. Which really makes the book all the more remarkable. Dorothy Hogg, self-styled as Dolores Diver, is a past-her-first-youth, painfully thin woman who, while attending the Chelsea Arts ball dressed as a Spanish dancer, meets Harold Gibson, a stout, middle-aged man dressed as a cardboard box. They soon became lovers. Harry set Dolores up in a modest little house in Alcock Road. Dolores' niece, Martha, an orphan, comes to live with her. Martha's only real interest is drawing items of geometric shapes - anything boxy, circular, triangular or cylindrical, from the tails of kippers in a jug to the gas range. Harry & Dolores have had a number of happy, uneventful years together.
Harry is forced to contemplate a convenient marriage due to his failing fur business (the novel is set during the Great Depression) and therefore, he is honor-bound to break off with Dolores and be faithful to his new fiancee. Both Dolores and Harry suffer greatly from this separation and the conflict of the book centers on whether or not they will ever have their HEA.
This book, like all of Ms. Sharp's books (at least that I've so far read) are written from that very British stiff-upper-lip, unsentimental viewpoint. You know, Keep Calm and Carry On. What is so remarkable to me is how sympathetically she describes these very unromantic, yet genuinely loving characters. The reader recognizes that observers would consider Harry and Dolores to be ridiculous as romantic figures, yet the book NEVER pokes fun at them; Ms. Sharp makes it clear that their love and regard for each other is genuine, regardless of their appearance. In other words, though they might be clownish in their appearance, their love is as sacred (to them, and should be to us) as that of Romeo and Juliet.
But this romance is almost secondary to the child, Martha, who has little interaction with other characters. Indeed, Martha actively avoids Harry and Dolores. Instead she spends most of her time drawing her shapes, and what conversations she does have is with local shopkeepers. She hides her drawings; only Harry's prospective father-in-law sees her work and recognizes her genuine talent and offers to sponsor her.
There are additional books about Martha after she is grown, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
This one features a romance between two very un-romance-novel-like characters. Which really makes the book all the more remarkable. Dorothy Hogg, self-styled as Dolores Diver, is a past-her-first-youth, painfully thin woman who, while attending the Chelsea Arts ball dressed as a Spanish dancer, meets Harold Gibson, a stout, middle-aged man dressed as a cardboard box. They soon became lovers. Harry set Dolores up in a modest little house in Alcock Road. Dolores' niece, Martha, an orphan, comes to live with her. Martha's only real interest is drawing items of geometric shapes - anything boxy, circular, triangular or cylindrical, from the tails of kippers in a jug to the gas range. Harry & Dolores have had a number of happy, uneventful years together.
Harry is forced to contemplate a convenient marriage due to his failing fur business (the novel is set during the Great Depression) and therefore, he is honor-bound to break off with Dolores and be faithful to his new fiancee. Both Dolores and Harry suffer greatly from this separation and the conflict of the book centers on whether or not they will ever have their HEA.
This book, like all of Ms. Sharp's books (at least that I've so far read) are written from that very British stiff-upper-lip, unsentimental viewpoint. You know, Keep Calm and Carry On. What is so remarkable to me is how sympathetically she describes these very unromantic, yet genuinely loving characters. The reader recognizes that observers would consider Harry and Dolores to be ridiculous as romantic figures, yet the book NEVER pokes fun at them; Ms. Sharp makes it clear that their love and regard for each other is genuine, regardless of their appearance. In other words, though they might be clownish in their appearance, their love is as sacred (to them, and should be to us) as that of Romeo and Juliet.
But this romance is almost secondary to the child, Martha, who has little interaction with other characters. Indeed, Martha actively avoids Harry and Dolores. Instead she spends most of her time drawing her shapes, and what conversations she does have is with local shopkeepers. She hides her drawings; only Harry's prospective father-in-law sees her work and recognizes her genuine talent and offers to sponsor her.
There are additional books about Martha after she is grown, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
February 25, 2020
'I've come,' announced Mr Joyce, 'to talk about Martha.'
That's a real suck-you-in sentence which had me loving Martha without knowing a dang thing about her. I imagined that she'd run rings about Mr Joyce and that she'd make me laugh in the process.
Margery Sharp again manages to combine sheer elegance of language with heroines that are anything but. Martha is fat and plain, but she doesn't give a toss - or not even that, it's more that she hasn't even ever thought about such trivial matters. She's an artist, obsessed with shape, and then with colour. Nothing matters to her apart from that. Oh, she likes a good bath, and she eats like she is built. But if she had the least reason to think that either of those habits were bad for her art, they'd be out on their ear. Just like Eric.
In fact, just like her baby. She gets pregnant to Eric. Drops him without his knowing that - he had plans to marry and obviously then she'd give up art. She has the baby in secret, and then leaves it with a note at Eric's front door. It's the spitting image of him. He lives with his mother. She left formula for the baby. Sorted. Back to painting.
rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
That's a real suck-you-in sentence which had me loving Martha without knowing a dang thing about her. I imagined that she'd run rings about Mr Joyce and that she'd make me laugh in the process.
Margery Sharp again manages to combine sheer elegance of language with heroines that are anything but. Martha is fat and plain, but she doesn't give a toss - or not even that, it's more that she hasn't even ever thought about such trivial matters. She's an artist, obsessed with shape, and then with colour. Nothing matters to her apart from that. Oh, she likes a good bath, and she eats like she is built. But if she had the least reason to think that either of those habits were bad for her art, they'd be out on their ear. Just like Eric.
In fact, just like her baby. She gets pregnant to Eric. Drops him without his knowing that - he had plans to marry and obviously then she'd give up art. She has the baby in secret, and then leaves it with a note at Eric's front door. It's the spitting image of him. He lives with his mother. She left formula for the baby. Sorted. Back to painting.
rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpre...
September 25, 2021
A bit unusual love story.
Dolores and Harry were sweet and lovable, but also a little irritating. So, on one hand, I was happy for their HEA (I don't consider it as a spoiler) and I would have liked to see more of their past courtship. But, on the other hand, I was annoyed by their sadness. I often had the feeling that I am reading over and over the same.
Probably one of the first novels about a child with ASD (Autism spectrum disorder). I am not sure if Margery Sharp thought about Martha as a kid with ASD, but to me it was obvious. And it was really well captured.
The characters of Mr Joyce and Miranda were interesting too.
And whose eye is in the title? The lovers' eyes? - they were blind with love. Miranda's eye of self-love (selfishness)? Or Martha's love for shape/art? Each one of us is/was seeing something/someone through the eye of love.
Dolores and Harry were sweet and lovable, but also a little irritating. So, on one hand, I was happy for their HEA (I don't consider it as a spoiler) and I would have liked to see more of their past courtship. But, on the other hand, I was annoyed by their sadness. I often had the feeling that I am reading over and over the same.
Probably one of the first novels about a child with ASD (Autism spectrum disorder). I am not sure if Margery Sharp thought about Martha as a kid with ASD, but to me it was obvious. And it was really well captured.
The characters of Mr Joyce and Miranda were interesting too.
And whose eye is in the title? The lovers' eyes? - they were blind with love. Miranda's eye of self-love (selfishness)? Or Martha's love for shape/art? Each one of us is/was seeing something/someone through the eye of love.
August 11, 2023
Where has she been all my life? This is the sort of thing I want to read, not Faulkner, not Hemingway, not Woolf. As far as I'm concerned, 20th Century Fiction (and the appreciation/criticism/history thereof) took a weird turn, and the wrong people, and only a couple of types of writing, became worthy of laurels. But I'd rather read a thousand Margery Sharps than one Hemingway. I can only assume it's because she (and Barbara Pym, those sorts of writers) tend to write about people doing things that people might do, and Woolf somehow was deemed worthy because she used stream-of-consciousness, and it was trendy at the time, though it's never appealed to me.
I'm just so glad that certain publishers (e.g. Viriago, Persephone, etc.) have realized some of us will want to read these, very, very much.
None of the characters are particularly likeable, save for Mr. Joyce, and yet she easily manages to let you identify with and root for most of them. The plot is very different from whatever one might think of as a typical domestic novel—I don't think it gives too much away (less than the jacket description!) to say it involves an unwanted orphaned girl, living with an aunt who has been evidently living in sin (gasp!) for several years, who loses her great love, and the book fairly equally follows her and her and him as they cope with and without each other.
Absolutely splendid.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
I'm just so glad that certain publishers (e.g. Viriago, Persephone, etc.) have realized some of us will want to read these, very, very much.
None of the characters are particularly likeable, save for Mr. Joyce, and yet she easily manages to let you identify with and root for most of them. The plot is very different from whatever one might think of as a typical domestic novel—I don't think it gives too much away (less than the jacket description!) to say it involves an unwanted orphaned girl, living with an aunt who has been evidently living in sin (gasp!) for several years, who loses her great love, and the book fairly equally follows her and her and him as they cope with and without each other.
Absolutely splendid.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
September 6, 2022
Margery Sharp can write and keep you reading. Even if I didn't quite like any of the main characters of the novel, I was interested enough in their story. The only person I liked was Mr. Joyce, and he remained true to character during the crisis at the end of the book.
The child Martha is well described as so immersed in her own world that she is unable to empathise with others, while the adults don't understand her behaviour.
The child Martha is well described as so immersed in her own world that she is unable to empathise with others, while the adults don't understand her behaviour.
November 14, 2015
This is an unusual, quirky, humorous fairytale romance story. An unlikely hero (portly, middle-aged Henry Gibson) and an unlikely heroine (angular, past her prime Dolores Diver) meet at a Chelsea Arts Ball dressed as a brown paper parcel and Spanish dancer respectively. Thus springs an unusual decade long love affair that is threatened by economic situations. Enter an unemotional orphaned niece with a large appetite for food and drawing random objects, a few unusual characters and situations, lots of candor, romance and intelligence and you have the makings of a fine novel. ‘The Eye of Love’ by Margery Sharp is a fantastic read. Read a full review click here: http://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/09/...
October 17, 2023
Surprisingly a five star read. Objectively, maybe not 5 stars, but we like what we like. Or love what we love. That was the point of the novel.
April 23, 2020
I'm not ready to say goodbye to these characters yet... I think I'll start the second book in this series ('Martha in Paris') right away.
August 6, 2025
It is 1932, and nine year old Martha, an orphan, lives in Paddington with her aunt, Miss Dolores Diver. For ten years Miss Diver has been kept in modest comfort by her lover, Harry Gibson, a furrier. He and Miss Diver are devoted to each other. But now his business has failed, and he is making a marriage of convenience to Miranda Joyce, whose father is a much more successful furrier. Regretfully Harry has to say goodbye to Miss Diver and, without any income of his own, leave her to fend for herself and Martha. Martha has just discovered herself to have a talent for drawing, and is obsessed with it, but there is no money for her to buy paper or pencils.
Martha is an unusual character, she is not an affectionate or demonstrative child, and drawing is all that really interest her (probably today she would be diagnosed as autistic). She does have a couple of unusual friends, a shoe repairer and a beggar, whom she gets on well with. The parts where she is central to the story are the most interesting. I found Harry Gibson and Dolores Diver rather silly, so too is Miranda Joyce, perhaps if they hadn’t been quite such caricatures they would have been more interesting. But Martha’s adventures are what made the story worth reading.
Martha is an unusual character, she is not an affectionate or demonstrative child, and drawing is all that really interest her (probably today she would be diagnosed as autistic). She does have a couple of unusual friends, a shoe repairer and a beggar, whom she gets on well with. The parts where she is central to the story are the most interesting. I found Harry Gibson and Dolores Diver rather silly, so too is Miranda Joyce, perhaps if they hadn’t been quite such caricatures they would have been more interesting. But Martha’s adventures are what made the story worth reading.
January 27, 2014
A middle-aged couple in love must end their relationship, as Harry is forced by the failure of his business to leave his mistress to marry his business partner's daughter. King Hal and his Spanish Rose, as they see each other and, through each other's eyes, themselves, thereafter pine miserably for most of the novel. Very nicely written with a bite of unsentimentality. Sharp seems like one of those authors who doesn't do anything special, but redeem themselves with idiosyncrasy. I'm reminded of Mary Wesley, but I haven't read Wesley for ages so I may be mistaken. The whole eye of love thing is rather nice, if a little undercut by the authorial insistence on its lack of reality. I liked Dolores' grandiose image of herself and its source. The niece, Martha, discovers an interest and talent for drawing, which, as well as the romantic storyline, underscores the vision of love theme. She draws gas ovens and has a need to find hard outlines and the right shapes; it was an interesting portrayal of an artistic character. I began to wonder if she was intended to have Asperger's Syndrome or something similar, but it was hard to tell, given the date.
April 20, 2016
I'm so glad these e-books have introduced me to Margery Sharp beyond Miss Bianca! This one was a delightful exploration of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," and the central couple are endearing despite their lack of ideal beauty, talent, personality, and youth. Also engaging is the child named Martha, who is obviously (to our 21st century understanding) on the Asperger's/autism spectrum and whose point of view as a child learning to express how she sees the world through her drawings is fascinating. It's a satisfying, unexpected comedy of manners, and you can't help but root for Harry and Dolores to escape the clutches of Miranda and Mr. Phillips (respectively). I think I'll have to buy the sequel to find out what happens to grown-up Martha in Paris.
March 7, 2021
A work of art that’s true to life, by it’s good nature, teaches, illuminates without need to spell it out or administer dogmatic instruction, with unsentimental wit as well plain conversation. An ‘eye of love’ has its own kind accuracy, and its own kind truth, for seeing both emotionally and aesthetically even more certain than the fact of ordinary itself; regardless tragedy mingled with absurdity.
And so we comprehend Thomas Hardy’s worst must happen, misleads relative convincing satisfaction, way following upon way showing how it can, regardless Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm mirths.
And so we comprehend Thomas Hardy’s worst must happen, misleads relative convincing satisfaction, way following upon way showing how it can, regardless Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort Farm mirths.
May 30, 2020
Charming and quirky set of characters. Martha is a lumpen orphan who discovers drawing and pursues her art with the single mindedness of an Asperger's sufferer. Her aunt Dolores, a rapidly fading middle aged woman, believes herself nevertheless to be a Spanish Beauty because her lover sees her as such. Her portly little man (whom she romantically views as handsome King Hal) is compelled to marry another to rescue his dying furrier business but gets rescued from this fate by an unlikely saviour.
June 10, 2020
Liked the funny side of the writing. This is perhaps the first humorous romance I read. Enjoyed it so much, I immediately looked for the second book in series, "Martha in Paris." It was available on I book. I am glad I did not buy it there, mainly because of the price. Fortunately I found the "Internet Archive" site and I could borrow it there for free.
For me the ending in "The Eye of Love" was unexpected; I thouroughly enjoyed the book.
For me the ending in "The Eye of Love" was unexpected; I thouroughly enjoyed the book.
January 30, 2011
I recommend reading this and the other two books featuring these characters in order: 1) The Eye of Love, 2) Martha in Paris, and 3) Martha, Eric, and George. These books show Sharp 's genius for writing comedic novels with very flat characters. The second and third books in the trio have feminist sentiments about working women and childcare that were way, way ahead of their time.
May 31, 2016
After reading Martha in Paris (and loving it) years ago, it was funny to go backwards and read the first book in the series! Martha in Paris is a better book than this one, but I still enjoyed it immensely - Martha is just as deliciously herself as a child as she is later as a teen, and the adults around her just as impossibly tangled.
June 6, 2018
Love Margery Sharp's books! Margaret is the anti- Pollyanna, such a great character. This story is light, quirky and insightful. Such a great quick read. Margery Sharp is the queen of observing human nature- for good and bad ... May we all be so lucky to find a King Hal and a Spanish Rose relationship!
February 20, 2022
Margery Sharp writes lovely light-hearted novels. This novel is particularly light and frothy. All the characters except for Mr Joyce are air-headed and dim-witted, making for unusually unrealistic plots. (Truly, who never thinks of putting a child in school from 6 to 9 years old?) If you’re able to cruise along in the clouds with the story, it’s enjoyable.
January 19, 2018
What fun Margery Sharp has, turning the romance genre on its head here. And what a needle-sharp portrait of a young artist! The opening and closing scenes, with Martha focusing her laser gaze on a coal shed or looking through some anemic grass, are quite literally picture perfect.
July 20, 2018
This odd love story about two people who are not traditional romantic leads felt like it should have been more charming than I found it to be. Not my favorite of the recently reprinted Margery Sharp novels. However, I'm sure I'll read the next book in the "Martha" trilogy.
February 8, 2016
Beautifully drawn characters
April 26, 2017
Loved it: sweet, old-fashioned, funny, and British!
February 4, 2017
Tenero...
August 11, 2017
3 stelle e mezzo
Una storia proprio carina, lenta ma molto godibile
Una storia proprio carina, lenta ma molto godibile
August 11, 2023
This was an unexpected pleasure. 5 stars. This is great because there are a number of other novels this author has written, and I haven’t read any of ‘em! 🙂 🙃
In the Introduction to this book which was re-issued by Virago Modern Classics in 2004, John Bayley wrote this: “...and I should be surprised indeed if the re-publication of this masterpiece of hers does not stimulate a new interest in her as a remarkable writer, and produce a new set of fans for it, and for the rest of her novels.”
Well, Dean Street Press in 2021 re-issued six of her novels! 🙂 🙃
• Rhododendron Pie —originally published in 1930
• Fanfare For Tin Trumpets —originally published in 1932
• Four Gardens —originally published in 1935
• Harlequin House —originally published in 1939
• The Stone of Chastity —originally published in 1940
• The Foolish Gentlewoman — originally published in 1948
Here is a blog site devoted to the author ... it looks very good! https://margerysharp.wordpress.com/
Here is a description of the story from the back over of my Virago Modern Classic re-issue:
• They met at the Chelsea Arts Ball” he went as a paper parcel, and she as a Spanish dancer. Harry Gibson and Miss Diver fell deeply in love... Theirs is a slightly ridiculous, if blissful union. But when Mr. Gibson decides he’ll have to marry the hopelessly unprepossessing daughter of his colleague in order to save his ailing business, Miss Diver is out without a penny. She’s forced in turn to take in a lodger, Mr. Philips, who mistakenly takes his landlady for a much richer women than she is... Watching over them all is Miss Diver’s niece Martha, a clumpy, unappealing child of a certain artistic genius.
A masterpiece of perspective, ‘The Eye of Love’ tells the story of a sweet, sad, secret love, and, as Sharp’s masterpiece, it is as fresh today as when it was first published in 1957.
Reviews (all the reviews are glowing...I am not surprised!):
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-eye-...
• https://leavesandpages.com/2012/07/13...
• https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/b...
• https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/09...
I wrote down some things I thought were really funny but these are just examples. The whole damn book was a scream.
• ... ‘Kissing Miranda was like kissing a sea-horse.’
• Six bridesmaids were in a room, and this is what Mr. Gibson, the man who was supposed to wed Miranda, thought of them: ‘...And how they chattered all at once, like a cage of starlings.’
• Miranda is a fledgling artist but she does not like typical paintings. She derives joy in drawing (with pencil or charcoal) ordinary items like saucepans, casseroles, grates on street sewers, and the kitchen stove: anyway she is forced to go to an art museum and she for the most part dislikes all the paintings, but she does like one...’...there had been one picture she cared for at all, and that not one she was specially directed to: of a half-undressed woman between two men with all their clothes on. The women had her arms out, one man was set higher then the other, and it all went into the shape of a pair of kitchen-scales.’
In the Introduction to this book which was re-issued by Virago Modern Classics in 2004, John Bayley wrote this: “...and I should be surprised indeed if the re-publication of this masterpiece of hers does not stimulate a new interest in her as a remarkable writer, and produce a new set of fans for it, and for the rest of her novels.”
Well, Dean Street Press in 2021 re-issued six of her novels! 🙂 🙃
• Rhododendron Pie —originally published in 1930
• Fanfare For Tin Trumpets —originally published in 1932
• Four Gardens —originally published in 1935
• Harlequin House —originally published in 1939
• The Stone of Chastity —originally published in 1940
• The Foolish Gentlewoman — originally published in 1948
Here is a blog site devoted to the author ... it looks very good! https://margerysharp.wordpress.com/
Here is a description of the story from the back over of my Virago Modern Classic re-issue:
• They met at the Chelsea Arts Ball” he went as a paper parcel, and she as a Spanish dancer. Harry Gibson and Miss Diver fell deeply in love... Theirs is a slightly ridiculous, if blissful union. But when Mr. Gibson decides he’ll have to marry the hopelessly unprepossessing daughter of his colleague in order to save his ailing business, Miss Diver is out without a penny. She’s forced in turn to take in a lodger, Mr. Philips, who mistakenly takes his landlady for a much richer women than she is... Watching over them all is Miss Diver’s niece Martha, a clumpy, unappealing child of a certain artistic genius.
A masterpiece of perspective, ‘The Eye of Love’ tells the story of a sweet, sad, secret love, and, as Sharp’s masterpiece, it is as fresh today as when it was first published in 1957.
Reviews (all the reviews are glowing...I am not surprised!):
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-eye-...
• https://leavesandpages.com/2012/07/13...
• https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/b...
• https://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/09...
I wrote down some things I thought were really funny but these are just examples. The whole damn book was a scream.
• ... ‘Kissing Miranda was like kissing a sea-horse.’
• Six bridesmaids were in a room, and this is what Mr. Gibson, the man who was supposed to wed Miranda, thought of them: ‘...And how they chattered all at once, like a cage of starlings.’
• Miranda is a fledgling artist but she does not like typical paintings. She derives joy in drawing (with pencil or charcoal) ordinary items like saucepans, casseroles, grates on street sewers, and the kitchen stove: anyway she is forced to go to an art museum and she for the most part dislikes all the paintings, but she does like one...’...there had been one picture she cared for at all, and that not one she was specially directed to: of a half-undressed woman between two men with all their clothes on. The women had her arms out, one man was set higher then the other, and it all went into the shape of a pair of kitchen-scales.’
October 29, 2025
The Eye of Love” is an often quite funny if rather odd romantic comedy: a comedy of remarriage, really, despite the fact that the principals aren’t married at the beginning of the book. But Harry Gibson and Dolores Driver are in a committed long-term relationship, and are deeply in love. What breaks them up is not a quarrel or a wandering eye: Sharp makes it very clear that neither could possibly be as attractive to anyone else as they are to each other (as the title suggests). And this is not just a question of physical attractiveness: neither is particularly intelligent or dynamic, and both are quite happy with their life together. The problem is economic: the Great Depression forces them both towards marriages that are motivated by money troubles, while their prospective spouses have equally unromantic, and less savory, reasons for wanting to marry Harry or Dolores. But since Sharp is determined that neither Harry nor Dolores can be a romantic hero, they are incapable of saving themselves. Instead, that task is left up to the two characters in the book who are capable of action. The more important one is Dolores’s orphan niece Martha, who has lived with Dolores since she was 6. At the time of the story she is 9 or 10, a totally unsentimental child with only one interest, learning to draw: Sharp does a pretty good job of conveying Martha’s developing artistic eye and utter indifference to the people around her as people, though she is quite able to identify their usefulness as providers of art supplies. Plus, unlike Harry and Dolores, Martha has strength of character to spare, and is perfectly willing to do what she can to bring them together when that seems to be better for her. But as a child, there’s a limit to how much Martha can do, which is where Mr. Joyce, Harry’s prospective father-in-law, comes in. He, and Harry’s new fiance Miranda, are familiar stock characters from the screwball comedies that Sharp is drawing on, but she does well with them. Mr. Phillips, who threatens to marry Dolores, is a rather darker figure, and his sections, though still often funny, have a decidedly bleak edge to them. In fact, the whole book is rather darker than one might expect, with the humor often bordering on the savage as Sharp tears down Harry and Dolores’s pretensions. Martha’s disdain for her aunt and her aunt’s lover, though a product of her single-minded focus on drawing, seems to reflect Sharp’s feelings, despite her occasional attempts to summon the reader’s sympathy for the couple. But the extra bite doesn’t hurt the writing one bit, and though I can’t say I’m all that excited for the further adventures of Martha — this is the first book of the Martha trilogy — I’m always happy to read more Sharp.
January 26, 2023
I've never read a Margery Sharp adult novel that can compare to The Rescuers (oh immortal Miss Bianca, Bernard and Nils!) but this is a cleverly done story by a writer fully in charge of her style. Those peculiarly English obsessions of class, sex, tea and housing are here at war with the shock of coping with the emergence of Artistic Genius in nine year-old Martha - how DARE she. Amusing if a bit chilly, which the mice never were but you can't have everything, as Sharp would be the first to remind us adults.
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