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The Expensive Halo: A Fable Without Moral
In this comedy of social contrasts, set in London during the heady 20s, rich, bored Ursula Deane falls for a penniless violinist whose sister becomes the object of the attentions of Ursula's brother, Lord Chitterne. Josephine Tey, who died in 1952, is best known for her crime novels.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1931
About the author
Gordon Daviot
41 books19 followersGordon Daviot is a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh, better known by the pseudonym Josephine Tey.
Works originally published under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot still use that name as primary work, even though republished as Josephine Tey or Elizabeth Mackintosh.
Works originally published under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot still use that name as primary work, even though republished as Josephine Tey or Elizabeth Mackintosh.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 28, 2010
[These notes were made in 1984:]. First published 1931 under pseudonym of Gordon Daviot. It was misleading of Sphere to republish this early novel under the name (Josephine Tey) that Elizabeth MacKintosh reserved for her mystery novels, for this is not, of course, one of her mysteries at all, nor is it anywhere near as fine a book. It has its moments of pleasure, of course, and it is handily shaped, but the theme - class tensions in the roaring twenties - is hardly fascinating, and the conclusion - that the upper-class brother may have his lower-class love, but his sister may not - disappointingly conventional. The halo of the title is that which Ursula, the sister, earns when she sets aside her usual selfishness and gives up her interest in the young fiddler in favour of the "good" girl who lives (literally) next door. There's room for some smashing good melodrama here, but MacKintosh is a fairly restrained writer, and does not really take advantage of the fact that her characters are all 'types'.
September 18, 2017
First off, this is not one of Tey's mystery stories. It is a different animal altogether. I did a longer review for it on my book blog: http://quirkyreader.livejournal.com
June 15, 2023
An outstanding novella by Gordon Daviot (aka Josephine Tey, aka F. Craigie Howe, aka Elizabeth Mackintosh.) A beautifully written and intricate love story - a tale of love in many different forms - romantic, parental, and sibling love. The story explores love's power to lead us to self-examination, to motivate and elevate us, and ultimately, to inspire in us selflessness even to the point of self-sacrifice on behalf of a beloved's welfare.
The book is aptly subtitled: "A Fable Without Moral," and perhaps it is for this reason my overall sense of this book is reminiscent of O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi." In this story, too, the loves and lovers pass through the pillars of both tragedy and triumph; at the end, the truest victory is revealed by the confirmation, simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, that in this tale also, no one has loved falsely...
The writing, straightforward and lyrical, is lightly embroidered with rich period references evoking clear images of 1920s-1930s London, in which the story is set. These same references also serve to illustrate and highlight the still-deep class divisions of that time which complicate and challenge our lovers' responses to each other. Even today, how much have those divisions really faded? Not so much as we'd like to believe.
This is a complex and skillfully rendered story. We see the genteel, blessed ease of one family's life, and the stridently harsh, even brutal realities, both economic and spiritual, of another's. We also see the kinds of human beings these disparate environments have produced, children of privilege and children of unimaginable hardship. Is this nature at work, or nurture? Hard to judge. What's certain from the collisions of these two worlds, is that in the end, regardless of which world they've sprung from, all of our story's lovers prove to be similarly hungry for and in search of a deeper connection for their own lives to something rare, and fine, and enduring...
The book is aptly subtitled: "A Fable Without Moral," and perhaps it is for this reason my overall sense of this book is reminiscent of O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi." In this story, too, the loves and lovers pass through the pillars of both tragedy and triumph; at the end, the truest victory is revealed by the confirmation, simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming, that in this tale also, no one has loved falsely...
The writing, straightforward and lyrical, is lightly embroidered with rich period references evoking clear images of 1920s-1930s London, in which the story is set. These same references also serve to illustrate and highlight the still-deep class divisions of that time which complicate and challenge our lovers' responses to each other. Even today, how much have those divisions really faded? Not so much as we'd like to believe.
This is a complex and skillfully rendered story. We see the genteel, blessed ease of one family's life, and the stridently harsh, even brutal realities, both economic and spiritual, of another's. We also see the kinds of human beings these disparate environments have produced, children of privilege and children of unimaginable hardship. Is this nature at work, or nurture? Hard to judge. What's certain from the collisions of these two worlds, is that in the end, regardless of which world they've sprung from, all of our story's lovers prove to be similarly hungry for and in search of a deeper connection for their own lives to something rare, and fine, and enduring...
July 25, 2019
This book is a treasure. No, it's not one of our lady's mystery novels. It's a comedy of manners. The language and character development were exact - I "believed" every characters - every word that they spoke - every situation. I don't want to give the story away. Lady Ursula does the right thing - she earns her halo - at a horrible cost. I felt so bad for her. I was pleading her case while the scenes played out - "NO! Don't cave in. She only knows you by the things she's read in the society column, which means not at all - FIGHT!" Still, it all rang true. This book deserves a handsome reprint by Vintage or Virago - it's a fine work of art.
June 26, 2025
Yikes! Josephine Tey wrote this…before her mysteries, each of which I’ve 5-starred. The way she writes this is just as precise, but the kind of story is very very different. Fun to read, though. Two others by Gordon Daviot showed up on Kindle, but aren’t available.
August 21, 2017
Interesting read. The last 3 pages pulled it up to 3.5 stars. Definitely inferior to later (mystery) works.
August 9, 2012
Although this book was as well-written as all of Tey's books are, the plot just didn't involve me the way her Inspector Grant mysteries do.
June 22, 2013
Not an "important" book or even one with much punch but a very light read made fun by Tey's always excellent writing. I wouldn't exactly recommend this book to anyone but lovers of Josephine Tey.
February 21, 2025
On Sara the riot of peacock greens and blues and iris yellows [of her silk offcut dressing-gown] looked barbarically appropriate. Every time her eye lighted on the splendour and the subtlety of them she had a moment of pleasure, and each time her eye lighted on herself in the splendour her pleasure was renewed. She was Egypt, she was Diana, she was Circe. Sara’s dressing-gown was one of the things that helped to make life bearable for Sara. [loc. 404]
Published in 1931, this standalone, non-thriller novel by Josephine Tey is the story of two brother-and-sister pairs -- one aristocratic, the other working class. The actual plot (bored socialite Ursula Deane falls for Gareth, a penniless but ambitious violinist, while her brother Lord Chitterne falls for the violinist's sister Sara, a dressmaker: Sara persuades Ursula to give up Gareth so he can marry his childhood sweetheart) is fairly thin: what made this such a compelling read was Tey's descriptions of her characters, and her depictions of family life. Sara and Gareth's father is a monstrous authoritarian, and their mother 'still loved [him], because she had never analysed herself sufficiently to find out that she didn’t'. Ursula's friend Daphne is prone to cocktails and shrieks of mirth. And Mrs Marsden, who cleans for the Ellis family, 'had four absorbing interests in life: contraception, the price of boiling beef, the rent money, and the Duchess of York.'
I'd have liked more examination of the differences between Ursula and her brother -- why the brother is a decent prospect for Sara despite the gaping chasm of class difference, while Ursula's love for Gareth is to be set aside before she gets bored of him -- but Tey seems more concerned with the horrors of working-class life.
Many of Tey's novels (some, like this, published under the name 'Gordon Daviot') are now in the public domain, and therefore available very cheaply. I shall read more...
January 18, 2023
Gordon Daviot is a penname of Elizabeth MacIntosh who also used the penname Josephine Tey. In this book, the Ellis family lives under the tyranny of Mr. Ellis who is a religious bully. His youngest child, Gareth, is just turning 21 but he lives at home as does his older sister, Sara. Gareth is a violinist who is beginning a job with a lounge band though he really wants to compose and to play more serious music. Sara is a designer for a dressmaker's shop, making clothes for the wealthy. Gareth meets a wealthy young woman, Ursula, at the lounge. Ursula has just broken off her third engagement and is looking for some new interests when she is drawn to Gareth. Gareth and Molly, the girl next door, have an understanding that they will become engaged but as Gareth becomes infatuated with Ursula, the relationship with Molly fades.
Meanwhile Sara meets Ursula's brother, Chit, and they start spending time together. She meets his father at a horse race and they get one well. Neither Gareth nor Sara know what the other is doing until Sara is invited by Chit to a concert put on by Ursula and she sees Gareth playing there. Both brother and sister have to keep their relationships secret from their parents because Mr. Ellis is such a bully and he would cause havoc if he knew.
Suffice it to say that both Gareth and Sara work out their relationships but we know there will be scenes and broken hearts along the way.
I must say that I find the Josephine Tey books more engrossing than this one was but it was well worth reading for the views I received of the abyss between the classes in London in the 1920s. I will try another Gordon Daviot and see if my opinion holds.
Meanwhile Sara meets Ursula's brother, Chit, and they start spending time together. She meets his father at a horse race and they get one well. Neither Gareth nor Sara know what the other is doing until Sara is invited by Chit to a concert put on by Ursula and she sees Gareth playing there. Both brother and sister have to keep their relationships secret from their parents because Mr. Ellis is such a bully and he would cause havoc if he knew.
Suffice it to say that both Gareth and Sara work out their relationships but we know there will be scenes and broken hearts along the way.
I must say that I find the Josephine Tey books more engrossing than this one was but it was well worth reading for the views I received of the abyss between the classes in London in the 1920s. I will try another Gordon Daviot and see if my opinion holds.
October 6, 2017
A poor man's Jane Austen with a touch of F. Scott Fitzgerald thrown in. "The Expensive Halo" is Josephine's Tey attempt to write a romantic comedy about the lauded gentry and the proletariat meeting and loving in 1930ish London. Written under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot, it is Teys contribution to the contemporary style of the time. By far, her detective novels are the much better product but some of the stories written under the Daviot tagline are credible in their own right. An interesting read for the audience of Josephine Tey (a pseudonym itself for Elizabeth MacKintosh), but not up to par with the rest of her works.
May 4, 2021
EXPENSIVE HALO, by Josephine Tey, is a comedy of social differences that takes place in London in the 1920s. When Ursula Deane, a rich, bored daughter of a mean grocer, takes an interest in a poor violinist who is the son of a pig farmer, she gets more than she bargained for. Meanwhile, her brother, Lord Chitterne, meets and falls for the violinist's sister, Sara, creating another level of complication. We would recommend this novel to those who appreciate the art of British literature, and for anyone who has read any of Josephine Tey's other novels. This book was from a genre that is different than what we normally choose to read.
September 25, 2018
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - and realized before I started that this was not one of Tey's detective novels. I guess if you came to this expecting one of Tey's detective novels, you might be disappointed. If you come, however, for an interesting take on the question of true love that I think is well-written, then I think that you will enjoy it.
April 17, 2019
I really enjoyed reading this because a) I like books set in the 1920's, b) I like Josephine Tey's writing, and c) it was large print. But I didn't like a) the remonstration to moral responsibility over another human adult's life. It felt ... outdated. and b) the cover was awful.
On the whole, an enjoyable read. Liked the 2 main characters (Sara and Ursula) enormously.
On the whole, an enjoyable read. Liked the 2 main characters (Sara and Ursula) enormously.
July 5, 2023
Elizabeth MacKintosh's second novel under her pen-name Gordon Daviot.
Two siblings fall in love with another pair of siblings. But one brother and sister are aristocrats, the other are lower class, a dressmaker and musician.
Daviot skilfully guides the reader in and out of their milieux, developing the stories in tandem, until the final crucial dilemma - the expensive halo of the title.
Two siblings fall in love with another pair of siblings. But one brother and sister are aristocrats, the other are lower class, a dressmaker and musician.
Daviot skilfully guides the reader in and out of their milieux, developing the stories in tandem, until the final crucial dilemma - the expensive halo of the title.
November 24, 2025
Nice Book, Not Quite Up To Her Others
Well drawn characters, if a little hard to believe in. Coincidences are a little hard to swallow, although I suppose they could happen. It feels like it could have gone on and ended differently. Rather as though its just chopped off at the end.
Well drawn characters, if a little hard to believe in. Coincidences are a little hard to swallow, although I suppose they could happen. It feels like it could have gone on and ended differently. Rather as though its just chopped off at the end.
October 12, 2021
Three and a half stars
This is a comedy of manners, not one of Tey's cosy mysteries. Arguably, it isn't as polished or accomplished a book as any of the mysteries that I have read. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot, though I daresay that won't be the case for everyone.
This is a comedy of manners, not one of Tey's cosy mysteries. Arguably, it isn't as polished or accomplished a book as any of the mysteries that I have read. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it a lot, though I daresay that won't be the case for everyone.
July 16, 2023
A silly little love story but fun to read.
Two siblings, Gareth and Sara, from a poor family, fall in love with Ursula and Chit, siblings from a family of aristocrats. How can this possibly work? And what about poor Molly, Gareth's childhood sweetheart and finaceé?
Two siblings, Gareth and Sara, from a poor family, fall in love with Ursula and Chit, siblings from a family of aristocrats. How can this possibly work? And what about poor Molly, Gareth's childhood sweetheart and finaceé?
July 15, 2025
I love Josephine Tey, but this is definitely not one of her best. Very slow.
August 27, 2011
Not my favorite Tey, primarily because I had the sense the entire time that I was reading it that it felt more like a play than a novel. Every element felt more like a sketch of a character or situation that could be brought wonderully to life on stage by talented comedic actors. It's a classic tale of love and class struggle and unhappy families. There are some great details and bits, but it lacks something in comparison to Tey's other works. Still, not unpleasant, and interesting to read something not about a crime or a mystery.
July 1, 2013
This isn't a mystery book at all, which is quite confusing as you read it. It's a light, frothy, bitter sweet romance. There is no substance to it at all, but as an easy light read it has fine characters, good dialogue and some sparkling description. As all her books seem to have, a fine detailing of the social strata of the times. Would be a light read for a long car journey or a train ride.
May 7, 2014
I prefer Josephine Tey's mystery novels. As others have remarked the outcome of this tale of social conditions and behaviours is less engaging than it might have been. It would however, probably translate well to the stage as a period drama.
December 9, 2015
I enjoyed the Inspector Grant series so much. This one seemed just another English social drama. Tey writes well--just not much here that I could care about.
August 13, 2023
An amazing, talented author.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews