The Nutmeg Tree

by Margery Sharp

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Julia Packett is a former actress and showgirl living precariously in London when her daughter Susan invites her to a family villa in Haute-Savoie. After Susan’s father died in the First World War, Julia left the child with wealthy paternal relatives, and she now hopes to appear sufficiently respectable to help secure approval for Susan’s proposed marriage.

Julia quickly concludes that Susan’s charming but unreliable fiancé resembles herself more closely than the disciplined young woman he intends to marry. The arrival of Sir William Waring, Susan’s guardian, creates a second romantic possibility and exposes Julia’s performance of conventional motherhood. The comedy contrasts inherited respectability with the improvised loyalties of a woman who has survived by charm.