Introduction to Sally

Timid grocer Mr. Pinner has spent years trapped in a tense, childless marriage to the beautiful, sharp-tongued Mrs. Pinner, whose looks attract the wrong kind of attention to the shop. When at last a daughter is born, he sees a miracle in her and names her Salvatia, soon Sally, only to discover that her extraordinary beauty is both blessing and curse. As Sally grows into a shy, obedient girl, her parents keep her hidden, escort her to school, and eventually move from Islington to the remote village of Woodles, hoping isolation will protect her from admirers and restore order to their lives. But Sally's radiance cannot be contained. In Woodles, young men from Cambridge begin flocking to the shop, and Mr. Pinner's fear turns to obsession until he welcomes a possible solution in Jocelyn Luke, a serious, scientific young man who falls in love with Sally at first sight. Their courtship is awkward, chaperoned, and painfully formal, with Pinner desperate to make the match respectable and Jocelyn increasingly frustrated by the lack of privacy. Around them, the story blends comedy, social unease, and quiet emotional strain, as Sally's beauty exposes class tensions, loneliness, and the desperate human need for love and control. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.