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The Innocents
Margery Sharp’s most poignant novel, set during World War II and filled with her trademark wit and warmth, tells the story of the powerful bond forged between a British spinster and the unusual little girl left in her care
As the threat of war looms, Cecilia and Rab Guthrie leave their young daughter, Antoinette, with a spinster friend in East Anglia, England, so they can enjoy a holiday on the continent. Three-year-old Antoinette doesn’t speak, is inordinately clumsy, and must always be spoken to in quiet tones or else she becomes frightened. Then the outbreak of World War II forces Antoinette’s parents to return to America without their daughter.
As the years pass, a relationship grows between the unmarried, childless woman and her innocent charge. Slowly Antoinette begins to change, becoming less frightened and delighting in objects and words, as does her foster mother. But when the war is over, Cecilia comes to collect her daughter—and take her away from the only person who has every really understood her.
An insightful, unsentimental novel about the challenges of raising a mentally challenged child in 1940s England, The Innocents sweeps readers along to its shocking conclusion.
As the threat of war looms, Cecilia and Rab Guthrie leave their young daughter, Antoinette, with a spinster friend in East Anglia, England, so they can enjoy a holiday on the continent. Three-year-old Antoinette doesn’t speak, is inordinately clumsy, and must always be spoken to in quiet tones or else she becomes frightened. Then the outbreak of World War II forces Antoinette’s parents to return to America without their daughter.
As the years pass, a relationship grows between the unmarried, childless woman and her innocent charge. Slowly Antoinette begins to change, becoming less frightened and delighting in objects and words, as does her foster mother. But when the war is over, Cecilia comes to collect her daughter—and take her away from the only person who has every really understood her.
An insightful, unsentimental novel about the challenges of raising a mentally challenged child in 1940s England, The Innocents sweeps readers along to its shocking conclusion.
Hardcover
First published June 1, 1972
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213 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 34 reviews
January 25, 2016
I have loved many of Margery Sharp’s books for many different reasons and, though I could argue with myself for a long time over the question, I think that if I had to pick just one favourite, one book to take with me to a desert island, it would be ‘The Innocents’.
I read it twice and each time I didn’t write about it, because I wasn’t sure that I could find the words to do it justice. And now I’ve read it for a third time, and I know that I must start to write, because this book is so special and I have to share it with others.
It’s a later work, it’s a quieter and simpler work than many of her others, and it speaks so profoundly.
The story is told by a middle-aged – almost elderly spinster living in a quiet country village. She had lived there all her life, first as the only child of the vicarage, and then as a lady of independent means. She was content with her life and with her position in village society; not at the forefront but always with a role to play.
Margery Sharp drew her character so well, and all of the characters who had parts to play in the story she has to tell. She had the ability to draw a real, living, breathing person with just a few lines, and in this case an account of a particular village fete. I can’t explain them nearly so well and so I shan’t even try. You need to read this book, and somebody needs to reissue it, please.
What she didn’t do was tell me her narrator’s name, and so I must continue to refer to her as ‘she’.
She recalled a visit from friends in the summer of 1939. A younger friend, who had been the belle of the village, had a whirlwind romance with an older Scottish businessman and they had settled in the USA. They had come home for business reasons, with their infant daughter in tow, and they had plans to tour continental Europe before they travelled back across the Atlantic. They realised that it had been a mistake to bring a young child without her nanny, and they wondered if could leave her, safe in the care of their older friend, while they holidayed.
She was pleased to say yes, she was quite taken with the child, and arrangements were quickly put into place.
She had already recognised what the parents had left unsaid: the child – Antoinette – Toni – had learning difficulties, or, in her own preferred terminology, she was ‘an innocent.’
This was when the story really struck a chord with me; because I had a brother who was ‘an innocent’. And that is why it means a great deal for me to say that everything rang true, that it was emotionally honest without ever being sentimental, and that ….
It made me think of many of the lovely people I met who were involved in my brother’s care, and it made me think of my mother and wish that I had discovered that book when my mother would have still been able to read it.
Now, back to the story.
Toni was blessed with a guardian who took such good care of her. She borrowed a basket of tabby kittens in case a distraction was needed when the parents left; it wasn’t, but Toni loved them anyway. She borrowed a cot from the WI and she took great care to understand what made her charge happy. What she loved was to spend her days wandering in the garden, to come into the house to eat when she was hungry, and to sleep securely in her cot at night. And so that was what happened.
A lovely understanding grew between the two. Toni had only a small number of words, and she used them to express herself rather than applying their conventional meaning; but of course true understanding doesn’t need words.
This arrangement lasted for much longer than had been originally planned. Because Britain declared war on Germany before that holiday was over, and an anxious employer arranged flights back to the USA, post haste. There was no time to collect Toni, and so she stayed just where she was until the war was over.
Her guardian learned, as more arrangements were put in place, that Toni’s father understood her condition and its implications, that he was anxious to do whatever was best for her; and that her mother did not, that she thought that counselling and speech therapy would transform Toni into the model daughter to follow her into society.
Toni’s father died just before the end of the war, and her mother arrived to take her home. She didn’t understand her child; she could not – or maybe would not – Margery Sharp is far to clever a writer to let me decide which, but she made me care so much.
The way that the story played out then was heart-rending. The guardian persuaded the mother to stay a while, to help the child’s transition; she wished to do more but she knew she could not; The child was unhappy, she tried to cling to the secure world she knew and loved, but it was clear that at some level she knew that she could; and the mother’s presence, living in a world where she no longer really belonged, sent ripples through the village community.
The conclusion is dramatic, and it could be interpreted in more than one way. I can’t quite decide; but I can tell you that thinking about it brings a lump to my throat.
Margery Sharp was such a perceptive writer; she understood all of her characters so well, and she knew that there were no heroes and no villains, just fallible human beings, some wiser than others.
Even though I knew this story it held me, it had my heart rising and falling, from the first page to the last.
I can’t do it justice, but I can say that it really is a gem.
I read it twice and each time I didn’t write about it, because I wasn’t sure that I could find the words to do it justice. And now I’ve read it for a third time, and I know that I must start to write, because this book is so special and I have to share it with others.
It’s a later work, it’s a quieter and simpler work than many of her others, and it speaks so profoundly.
The story is told by a middle-aged – almost elderly spinster living in a quiet country village. She had lived there all her life, first as the only child of the vicarage, and then as a lady of independent means. She was content with her life and with her position in village society; not at the forefront but always with a role to play.
Margery Sharp drew her character so well, and all of the characters who had parts to play in the story she has to tell. She had the ability to draw a real, living, breathing person with just a few lines, and in this case an account of a particular village fete. I can’t explain them nearly so well and so I shan’t even try. You need to read this book, and somebody needs to reissue it, please.
What she didn’t do was tell me her narrator’s name, and so I must continue to refer to her as ‘she’.
She recalled a visit from friends in the summer of 1939. A younger friend, who had been the belle of the village, had a whirlwind romance with an older Scottish businessman and they had settled in the USA. They had come home for business reasons, with their infant daughter in tow, and they had plans to tour continental Europe before they travelled back across the Atlantic. They realised that it had been a mistake to bring a young child without her nanny, and they wondered if could leave her, safe in the care of their older friend, while they holidayed.
She was pleased to say yes, she was quite taken with the child, and arrangements were quickly put into place.
She had already recognised what the parents had left unsaid: the child – Antoinette – Toni – had learning difficulties, or, in her own preferred terminology, she was ‘an innocent.’
This was when the story really struck a chord with me; because I had a brother who was ‘an innocent’. And that is why it means a great deal for me to say that everything rang true, that it was emotionally honest without ever being sentimental, and that ….
It made me think of many of the lovely people I met who were involved in my brother’s care, and it made me think of my mother and wish that I had discovered that book when my mother would have still been able to read it.
Now, back to the story.
Toni was blessed with a guardian who took such good care of her. She borrowed a basket of tabby kittens in case a distraction was needed when the parents left; it wasn’t, but Toni loved them anyway. She borrowed a cot from the WI and she took great care to understand what made her charge happy. What she loved was to spend her days wandering in the garden, to come into the house to eat when she was hungry, and to sleep securely in her cot at night. And so that was what happened.
A lovely understanding grew between the two. Toni had only a small number of words, and she used them to express herself rather than applying their conventional meaning; but of course true understanding doesn’t need words.
This arrangement lasted for much longer than had been originally planned. Because Britain declared war on Germany before that holiday was over, and an anxious employer arranged flights back to the USA, post haste. There was no time to collect Toni, and so she stayed just where she was until the war was over.
Her guardian learned, as more arrangements were put in place, that Toni’s father understood her condition and its implications, that he was anxious to do whatever was best for her; and that her mother did not, that she thought that counselling and speech therapy would transform Toni into the model daughter to follow her into society.
Toni’s father died just before the end of the war, and her mother arrived to take her home. She didn’t understand her child; she could not – or maybe would not – Margery Sharp is far to clever a writer to let me decide which, but she made me care so much.
The way that the story played out then was heart-rending. The guardian persuaded the mother to stay a while, to help the child’s transition; she wished to do more but she knew she could not; The child was unhappy, she tried to cling to the secure world she knew and loved, but it was clear that at some level she knew that she could; and the mother’s presence, living in a world where she no longer really belonged, sent ripples through the village community.
The conclusion is dramatic, and it could be interpreted in more than one way. I can’t quite decide; but I can tell you that thinking about it brings a lump to my throat.
Margery Sharp was such a perceptive writer; she understood all of her characters so well, and she knew that there were no heroes and no villains, just fallible human beings, some wiser than others.
Even though I knew this story it held me, it had my heart rising and falling, from the first page to the last.
I can’t do it justice, but I can say that it really is a gem.
March 18, 2019
An absolute stinker; that from a Sharp fan.
What makes her books so wonderful is there sharpness and this is about as sharp as something really REALLY blunt.
But yes. Definitely one for the 'better written than Harry Potter' shelf.
What makes her books so wonderful is there sharpness and this is about as sharp as something really REALLY blunt.
But yes. Definitely one for the 'better written than Harry Potter' shelf.
February 27, 2024
Every book by Margery Sharp was a treasure, so far.
In this one, there was a precious observation of a kid with an intellectual/ developmental disability. And the relationship between the child and her caretaker.
Yes, the narration sometimes went into descriptions that didn't interest me much, yet the topic, what questions the author asked were priceless.
[4-4.5 stars]
In this one, there was a precious observation of a kid with an intellectual/ developmental disability. And the relationship between the child and her caretaker.
Yes, the narration sometimes went into descriptions that didn't interest me much, yet the topic, what questions the author asked were priceless.
[4-4.5 stars]
February 25, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyable. A very sensible and sensitive treatment of a delicate topic — lighthearted without disrespect. The surprise ending is pure genius!
May 18, 2016
In this old-fashioned but engaging story, a middle-aged English woman takes temporary charge of a small child for American friends who are on their way to the Continent. When World War II breaks out, they must return home without their daughter, who is what used to be called “an innocent”. The narrator devotes herself to the child, but when the mother finally returns to claim her daughter, things get sticky, and in the end, the reader is left with the question of who are the real “innocents” of the title. The author skillfully portrays the small town setting and gives insight into her characters with sharp and often humorous observations of actions and words.
October 23, 2011
Antoinette is an "innocent", a retarded child, left with an older woman in a small English town after her parents are forced back to New York at the beginning of World War II.
She does not speak but slowly says a very few words as she develops a closeness with her foster mother. After the war her mother arrives, to what she calls, "collect" the child. She has never understood her daughter to be retarded and in her social whirl, does not have time to consider it, believing that she can make necessary changes for her through speech therapy and psychoanalysis.
The foster mother is helpless to prevent the real mother from taking her, but circumstances intervene to change things in other ways.
A poignant, insightful look into how this topic was viewed in 1940's England.
She does not speak but slowly says a very few words as she develops a closeness with her foster mother. After the war her mother arrives, to what she calls, "collect" the child. She has never understood her daughter to be retarded and in her social whirl, does not have time to consider it, believing that she can make necessary changes for her through speech therapy and psychoanalysis.
The foster mother is helpless to prevent the real mother from taking her, but circumstances intervene to change things in other ways.
A poignant, insightful look into how this topic was viewed in 1940's England.
November 13, 2022
I found this in a caravan park. So glad that I stumbled across it. I loved it - the style, the characterisation, the plot, the gentle wit, the descriptions of the countryside, everything. Set during and just after WWII, the war doesn’t feature but allows the events to take place: elderly narrator looks after a pre-schooler with unspecified disability for a short time while her parents travel to Europe but war stops her parents from being able to collect. The elderly narrator and the child develop a strong connection. After the war, the mother returns to collect her child but is unwilling to admit her child has a disability.
April 15, 2018
This slim novel, originally published in 1972 and recently reissued, is an unsentimental and thought-provoking story of an unnamed narrator (spinster, Vicar's daughter, living in East Anglia) and the child she lovingly cares for during WWII. The child, Antoinette, has an undefined developmental difference and a beautiful mother who seems to want, or expect, a different daughter than the one she has. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.
December 28, 2021
Amazing novel. Thanks to Jane of Beyond Eden Rock for introducing me to Margery Sharp and to this book in particular. As the grandmother of a child on the autism spectrum, I think the "Innocent" child would be diagnosed today as being on the ASD. Although this book was published in the 1970s, the unnamed narrator treated the child in a number of ways that are now recommended by autism experts.
December 6, 2024
The narrator, an elderly spinster living in an East Anglian village, describes the marriage of her young and beautiful friend Cecelia to a rich American. Cecelia and her husband have a daughter,Antoinette, and return to the village on a visit when Antoinette is three years old. Antoinette is evidently quite backward, and her parents, who are about to embark on a European holiday, ask the narrator to look after her while they are away. She and Antoinette are quite happy together, and when WW2 breaks out, preventing Antoinette’s parents from returning, a visit that was supposed to last a few weeks stretches to six years. Antoinette develops a little, and learns to ride a pony. But then Cecelia, now a widow, arrives eager to take Antoinette back to New York, and trouble begins. This is quite an interesting story, though I would have liked some better developed characters, and I thought the ending a bit too convenient (one could see it coming I suppose).
March 16, 2017
The story is narrated by an ageing spinster who lives happily in a small village in East Anglia. She has lived her whole life in this village, which has a wonderfully relaxed and tolerant attitude to their neighbours. Our narrator introduces us to Cecilia the village beauty – who for a long time seemed to have little time for the men who mooned after her, but who suddenly up and married a visiting Scottish millionaire, who now lived in America.
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War Cecilia and her husband return to the village on another visit. They bring their little daughter with them, Antoinette is three, and not quite like other children. She is what our narrator calls – an innocent – she has some unspecified learning difficulty. Antoinette dislikes loud noises, she is easily frightened and isn’t speaking yet.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War Cecilia and her husband return to the village on another visit. They bring their little daughter with them, Antoinette is three, and not quite like other children. She is what our narrator calls – an innocent – she has some unspecified learning difficulty. Antoinette dislikes loud noises, she is easily frightened and isn’t speaking yet.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2017/...
August 22, 2020
Not my favorite Margery Sharp novel, but interesting nonetheless. We don’t read much about the treatment of special needs children 70-80 years ago, so it is interesting seeing a perspective of an author in that time frame writing about his a child might be treated or raised.
Some of the characters were caricatures without depth or development (classic villain) and the ending was unsatisfying and abrupt.
Some of the characters were caricatures without depth or development (classic villain) and the ending was unsatisfying and abrupt.
March 13, 2022
A quirky character study set in a quiet East Anglia British village during WWI, told with Margery Sharp's typical biting wit. The description of the child's mental development (or lack thereof) does not suit our modern understanding, but I believe realistically depicts the views of the time.
September 5, 2016
Wow. Another brilliant novel by Margery and what an ending. She made it fairly obvious early on what the ending would be but not how that ending would come about.
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
March 23, 2018
Of the Sharp books that I've read, this is definitely my least favorite. It also seems to be one of the slighter ones. I'm glad I read it, but I doubt that it's one I'd recommend.
March 19, 2024
It was OK but it dragged. The end was just too convenient. I wanted to like the book, and I think it could’ve been a good book, but unfortunately it was only so so.
June 11, 2018
I want to BE Margery Sharp when I grow up. Wait, she's dead. Damn. At least she left me a legacy twenty-six novels, not to mention her marvelous Rescuers saga. And this one, The Innocents, is perfection. It's a total sucker-punch of a story, in spite of the large warning sign Sharp puts right on the first page. The heroine, a Miss Marple-ish old pussycat, turns out to have a delightful bit of tiger in her. Sharp lulls the reader with Agatha Christie-like descriptions of English village life, drawn with a fine etching needle, until the shocker last chapter. A most satisfying British cosy indeed.
December 30, 2022
I loved this book! A writer who can put so much feeling and such well-developed characters and a unique storyline into such a short book as this is a powerful and successful writer in my book. I so enjoyed reading about the everyday life of little Antoinette and her guardian. But the story isn't just about them but also about community in a scary and uncertain time in history. I just love Margery Sharp's writing style; how she intersperses a bit of humor throughout her story even in the midst of serious situations. She did this in Cluny Brown also. I'm looking forward to collecting more of her books.
December 5, 2023
fun, uplifting, and poignant
I loved the characters of Antoinette and her "mother" and Cecelia. The village in which we are immersed is perfect. It has been said that "it takes a village to raise a child" and this may be the perfect one. Everyone is so accepting of Antoinette and supportive of each other. This was a great "come in from the cold and snuggle up" kind of book. Spend a day with this quirky little family... you won't regret it!
I loved the characters of Antoinette and her "mother" and Cecelia. The village in which we are immersed is perfect. It has been said that "it takes a village to raise a child" and this may be the perfect one. Everyone is so accepting of Antoinette and supportive of each other. This was a great "come in from the cold and snuggle up" kind of book. Spend a day with this quirky little family... you won't regret it!
December 4, 2024
I really enjoyed it:). Sweet, touching story:)
Some of her books have been made into movies:)
She writes in a very description way about the people and places in her novels:)
Very enjoyable, funny and easy to read.
This book was very different in regards to the story line of any book I’ve read before and it was done so well:)
I look forward to my next Margery Sharp novel.
Some of her books have been made into movies:)
She writes in a very description way about the people and places in her novels:)
Very enjoyable, funny and easy to read.
This book was very different in regards to the story line of any book I’ve read before and it was done so well:)
I look forward to my next Margery Sharp novel.
July 8, 2017
Warm hearted novel about a spinster raising a challenged child in England during WW2. Love how she accepts the child for who she is and builds on that. This is in sharp contrast to the
mother who has delusions about the child.
mother who has delusions about the child.
June 7, 2018
A character-driven gem that shows the relationship between a damaged little girl, the woman whose patience and love allow her to flower, and the girl’s self-involved mother. The final scene is one of the greatest endings I’ve ever read.
October 18, 2019
I really can't write a better review of this wonderful book than Jane already has, so I highly recommend you read her's https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
February 6, 2020
Hmm, disappointing. Started off interesting, but second half was a steady decline. The two main adult female characters did not sit right with me, did not seem fully believable, and the ending felt both icky and contrived.
November 1, 2022
The Innocents is a simple book with a simple plot, that wrapped up the climax and conclusion in several pages. The rest of the plot could have been wrapped up just a quickly if common sense and communication had been employed.
May 24, 2024
This book is a masterpiece. I was deeply moved by more than one character but most of all by the narrator, whose name we are never told, and her love for someone else's child.
February 26, 2023
an endearing book
Margery Sharp never disappoints and in this story she tackles a rather delicate situation. Perfectly. Read for the final sentence- you will not be disappointed.
Margery Sharp never disappoints and in this story she tackles a rather delicate situation. Perfectly. Read for the final sentence- you will not be disappointed.
January 13, 2024
Innocent (noun) noun 1. a pure, guileless, or naive person.
This was just the book I needed to read right now. It was a very pleasant experience. Not popcorn reading.
This was just the book I needed to read right now. It was a very pleasant experience. Not popcorn reading.
Read
February 10, 2024Only got to page 30, just can’t get into it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews