Sally on the Rocks by Winifred Boggs

Title: Sally on the Rocks
Author: Winifred Boggs
Publication: British Library Women Writers, paperback, 2021; originally published in 1915
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century England

Description: Sally is an attractive woman of 31 with several strikes against her: not only is she unmarried and penniless but she is also from "bad stock" – a chorus girl mother and a wastrel-from-a-good-family father. The only stability in her life was Reverend Adam Lovelady and his wife, kind cousins who gave her a home in Little Crampton when she needed one as a girl. Now after years in France, including a bad love affair and the outbreak of war, Sally recognizes her life is on the rocks. When Miss Maggie Hopkins, a sly troublemaker, writes to Sally in Paris to say there’s an eligible bachelor in town, Sally decides it’s time to return home to secure a comfortable future with this bank manager. Back in Little Crampton, she finds this Mr. Bingley being pursued by a genteel widow and, at her most demure, joins in the chase, although kind Reverend Lovelady is appalled by Sally’s determination to marry someone for security. Complications arise when Sally’s former lover moves to the area and when she befriends a disgraced soldier. If Sally is to obtain a proposal from the affluent bank manager, she needs to keep her eyes on the prize!

My Impression: Although Sally is in her 30s with no money, a sordid secret in her past, and worry about the future, she approaches life with humor and charm. Spiteful Miss Maggie plotted to get Sally back to Little Crampton because she thought it would be amusing to watch Sally and the widowed Mrs. Dalton compete for bank manager, Mr. Bingley; in fact, they develop a healthy respect for one another although neither backs down from the pursuit. Mr. Bingley has a very high idea of his own worth yet is only desirable because of his income, unlike the man I assume he is named for, the handsome and amiable Bingley of Pride and Prejudice. Sally wishes he were more prepossessing and recognizes that he is no fool, which would have made it easier to attract him, but she embraces the challenge:

Sally went up the stairs three steps at a time. Yes, Mr. Bingley was getting nearer every day, whether he knew it or not.

“I must be very, very careful,” she warned herself, “he’s only just on the verge; the least fright would cause him to retreat once more.”

She decided to spare the bank manager that fright. Then she forgot Mr. Bingley, but she did not forget Mr. Bingley’s possessions. She wasted his money in riotous living, clothes, furniture, and other oddments. “I feel like an outcast cat that’s got itself adopted at last,” she thought.

Due to an unfortunate coincidence, Sally’s one seriously scandalous episode is revealed by the dreadful Miss Maggie and seems likely to ruin all her plans. By this time, the reader is fervently rooting for Sally to find an alternative means of survival than smug Mr. Bingley, whose best moment is when he realizes the book of aphorisms penned by his late mother would deprive him of any happiness, if followed too closely, so burns it! While there is an inevitable double standard about Sally’s transgression, Sally is not ashamed of her behavior, only sorry that others are hurt by it.

This is an enjoyable novel, a comedy of manners with more bite than most, and an appealing heroine who is not as bad as her reputation. Sally's determination to save a lost soul is a bit melodramatic and reminded me of an Elinor Glyn novel (I read them all in college when I should have been studying) but with much more humor.  One odd thing is that Sally is a natural brunette who says she x-rayed her hair blonde. Is this possible? It sounds very unlikely, also dangerous, although she wouldn’t have known that. Thank you to Simon from Stuck in a Book for recommending and getting it back in print; Neglected Books is hosting an online event planned for 8/29/23. 

Source: Harvard University Library