The Protégé

by Charlotte Armstrong

What was a respectable old widow like Mrs. Moffat doing with that bearded young stranger in her house?
He told her he was Simon Warren, that he had lived next door when he was a child and had been friends with her grandson - who had vanished mysteriously seven years before. So she invited him for lunch. He stayed for months.
Mrs. Moffat asked few questions, although she suspected that he was not "Simon Warren" at all. But she was still convinced that her "protege" was just a troubled young boy when her granddaughter Zan arrived.
Then both women watched with dawning horror as a bizarre scheme unfolded - a scheme to revive the past terror they thought they could forget...

Genres: Mystery, Gothic, Fiction

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Full name Charlotte Armstrong Lewi. Wrote 29 novels, plus short stories and plays under the name Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine. Additional writing jobs: New York Times (advertising department), Breath of the Avenue (fashion reporter).

Reviews

[Carla Remy · Rating 3 out of 5]

From 1970
A young man moves into the life of an old woman, under an assumed name. As on this cover, there is a sundial. It is brought up a couple times how sundials only work in the day time.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those odd experiences. I devoured all of Charlotte Armstrong's books that I could find when I was in high school and loved them. Sadly for me, the good ones aren't around anymore where I live now; the ones I have been able to find decades later are either books I didn't have access to or read and forgot all about. This is one of the latter. Sadly, it's not one of her best, either. Not her absolute worst, but needed a good editor to tighten it up.

Armstrong had a penchant for telling her stories "inside out"--the reader knows what's wrong and who's planning on doing something dreadful, while the MC and friends bumble around. I suppose the original idea was that this created suspense, but it never has for me and particularly not this time around. The story is scrappily told--not in the sense of an intriguing puzzle, but in the sense of the reader growing impatient with quite so many "significant" remarks that never go anywhere. It isn't really even a "whodunit". The mystery is, what is the point? Most of the story is there to give the elderly MC a chance to muse and philosophise and pontificate, if only in her thoughts. The end was rushed and less than credible, but by that time I wasn't in the mood to go back and read it again, even though the author actually encourages the reader (twice!) to mull over things that don't make sense and maybe, hopefully, eventually they will.
I suppose when I was 15 and knew less about good writing I was more easily pleased, but I will say that for a good 3/4 of the book I had no memory of anything at all, and believed I had never read it, which is damning indeed coming from my eidetic memory for books. There was one phrase that leaped off the page and smacked me in the face, making me realise I had indeed read this book at some time back around 1976. Sadly, it wasn't enough.

"Everyone walks carrying a hoop of his own horizons, large or small (since scales differ) and more or less illuminated by his own understanding. What resemblance or relationship his world has to the real one, none can know. But the one sure-thing bet is this: The world "I really believe in" does not, it cannot, it never will coincide with reality."

At the period of my life when I first read this I was being shoved into therapy, labelled and boxed in as the identified patient of an extremely dysfunctional family. It was the only passage that resonated with me in the whole book.

[Toni NB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. It's happening. Every once in a while I find a good old pulpy paperback novel. Every once in a while I'll pick one up at a used book store and hope that I've found a good one. They're usually very short, maybe 150-170 pages. No big deal to finish. There's a sinister looking cover: a young woman in distress, usually running or looking over her shoulder at that something sinister, long hair flowing in the wind. It has that wonderful, musty, old book smell. And every once in a while the story is pretty good; thin at some plot points but good enough that I'll finish it. A good, fast read. A Dorothy Eden, if I'm very lucky.

No such luck. What would normally take me two nights of bed reading has extended well beyond what it should. This review alone is longer than it should be. What's it about? An older woman, Mrs Moffat, befriends a young man with a red beard who once lived next door to her when he was a little boy. He was friends with her son years ago. He does work for her at her home in return for a place to stay. It's supposed to be temporary. At night, he writes short notes to "Smitty." I have no idea who Smitty is and it's getting a little annoying because he's supposed to mean something to the story. Mrs Moffat's granddaughter arrives to visit and suspects something amiss with the red beard. She's probably right.

I'm half way through the book and that's all that's happened. I just need to sit down for an hour and finish it already. I could have finished it by now if I wasn't writing about how bad it is.

[ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely awful. From the poor scene transitions, the plodding plot, and just overall boring nature of this book there is nothing to leave you wondering what may be happening or any air of mystery. Save yourself the time, just read the first chapter or two and you will know exactly what is happening (if you can even push yourself to read that far).

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was first published in 1970 after the author had died in 1969, so one wonders if she might have revised it before publication - it reads a bit jerky in places. In any case, it is an interesting plot. Mrs. Marguerite Moffat is a 74-year-old widow, living in southern California in the greater Los Angeles area, and a maid named Polly close to her own age. A young man with a red beard shows up, says he is Simon Warren who knew her and her grandson Tommy when they were kids. (Tommy's parents had both died young, so he had been raised by Mrs. Moffat and her late husband Gerard). He starts doing various odd jobs for her and lives in a cottage on her property. Then her granddaughter-in-law, Alexandra Terry Moffat ("Zan"), age 25 and good looking, shows up. She had been married to Tommy when they were teenagers, and she had been pregnant by him, but the baby was born dead. Afterward, he had abandoned her, and she hasn't seen or heard from him in over 7 years. She has been working to have her husband legally dead. She had moved out to New York and established her own business, but she had developed a relationship with a Nicholas Pomerance ("Nicky"), who is living in California. She is thinking of moving back. She flies out for a visit and is appalled to find Simon at the Moffat place. Mrs. Moffat doesn't ask Simon questions about his past and so can't tell Zan much of anything except that he is quite polite, very handy and she has become quite fond of him, and he will be staying until he decides to leave. But things aren't quite right. Simon goes off occasionally. He sees someone he calls "Smitty", who calls him "Al". Simon mentions at one point that he had a sister, but Mrs. Moffat seems to recall that the Simon she remembers was an only child. Zan goes to see various people for business reasons, presumably to get herself a job in case she does actually move out permanently, and of course to hang out with Nicky. And so there are multiple twists and turns through to the end.

[Debra Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Senior Citizen myself, this book raised the issue of the vulnerability of the old by the younger. However, I also sympathized with Mrs. Moffet as she brought the stranger into her home because he gave her the company in her somewhat lonely existence that her few living relatives did.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun little treasure I found thrifting. Written in 1970 with a somewhat scary cover I had no idea what to expect. It was only 160 pages so I thought what the heck I’ll try it. It was well written, engaging and delightful! I may even look up some other books by the same author.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect little mystery.

[Smudgedink7 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has an interesting plot and keeps the reader guessing who Simon Warren really is. I’m happy the relationship between him and Mrs. Moffat is one of understanding; it’s not a weird tryst. Her friends and neighbors’ concern over her protection for him is warranted but no one tries that hard to step in to the exception of Zan who goes into the complete opposite direction. As Mrs. Moffat points out to Zan, if Simon wanted to hurt her, he would have prior to her visit. As Simon’s true intentions unfold, I became less interested because it was entangled with someone else’s motive. The ending happens with fanfare that I either don’t understand or didn’t care enough to pay attention to.

Mrs. Moffat was a fabulous character and I think the author cheated Simon.

Also, maybe I missed it but I wasn’t sure why everyone cared about Simon’s beard. This story was written decades ago when it wasn’t as in fashion but it was lost on me.

I received a copy from NetGalley.

[Lisa Greer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another thrift store fine. :) So far, it's intriguing and I like the narrator's wit.