Summer Reading Project, BookLikes Satellite

Margery Sharp’s The Nutmeg Tree has one of the best opening chapters I’ve read in a long time. When we meet Julia Packett (sometimes, but not really, Mrs. Macdermott), she is in the bath tub. She has been there for over an hour. She won’t come out because there are two men outside who want five pounds or they will repossess her rented furniture. By the end of the chapter, Julia has gotten out of the bath—but only after swindling the two men and a pawnbroker. We also learn in the first chapter that Julia has been summoned to France by a daughter she hasn’t see in about twenty years. Susan needs Julia’s help.

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free promotional copy of this book from the publisher.