A Marrying Man by G.B. Stern (1937)
A Marrying Man opens on Kathleen Morrison, twenty-seven, back in London after a stolen month at Alpenruh with Gareth Albert Temple, a young botanist she and her party had missed the boat with in Switzerland. She hoards the memory of their idyll and refuses Gareth's earnest proposal, delivering him a bitter vision of marriage as clammy, degrading intimacy learned from watching her brother Edward and sister-in-law Nelly's household. Gareth, pressured by his chemist father and romantically encouraged by his mother, returns triumphant with a new job as a reader for publisher Leslie Campbell and wins Kathleen's consent almost by momentum, sweeping past her protests. Sixteen years later they are married and living unhappily at Pacific Villa, Hammersmith, on Gareth's meagre reader's salary. Kathleen, now forty-three, is worn by "Winter-fear" and the erosion of romance into domestic friction; Gareth, still a reader after sixteen years, feels shut out from the literary set at Campbell's firm ("Campbell's Young Men"). A holiday mix-up at Ilfracombe's Rapparee House, engineered by the vulgar Trixie Worley, separates the couple into a private room and attic, giving each solitude. There Gareth conceives an idea for a novel, "The Round Adventure," about a harbour boy's lifelong fear of water, while Kathleen begins an affair with Napier Kirby, a boastful, magnetic motor-manufacturer estranged from his wife Grace. Back in London, Gareth writes obsessively, dreaming of joining Campbell's inner circle, while Kathleen's affair intensifies toward a planned elopement to Spain, where Kirby is racing for the International Automobile Cup. Gareth discovers among his office submissions a manuscript, "The Reverse of the Medal" by Pat O'Neill, built on precisely his own idea; unable to bear losing his one chance at achievement, he suppresses it in a locked drawer and races to finish his own book first. On the night Kathleen plans to flee to Charing Cross with Kirby, Gareth's illness and a sudden accusatory outburst stall her departure; Kirby, meanwhile, has already reconciled with Grace and secretly hopes Kathleen won't come. Kathleen misses her chance, and the two remain locked together in renewed silence and mutual recrimination, rehashing old wounds about Gareth's weakness and her forcing of matters. Guilt-ridden over the suppressed manuscript, Gareth eventually sends it forward with a glowing report, giving up his own book's priority. He then meets its author in person: not the young man he imagined, but Patricia O'Neill, a vivid twenty-two-year-old of striking presence and wit, who comes to inquire after her manuscript. Their exchange leaves Gareth captivated and freshly aware of his own age and stagnation. The narrative then shifts to introduce Patricia's background — her home in Sydenham with her widowed mother and two step-sisters, Ann and Hetty, and her fierce, idea-driven, self-declared "egoist" philosophy of life — before breaking off as Patricia turns twenty, with the text ending mid-sentence at that point.
By G.B. Stern · First published 1937 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Marriage Novel, Social Comedy · 17 chapters · 91,699 words
First lines
Kathleen Morrison, on her return to London, was not prepared for the empty, echoing house, the loud thud of her footsteps on the uncarpeted stairs, the ghostly appearance of the linen-shrouded furniture. Her brother and sister-in-law, with whom she made her home, usually abandoned the seaside towards the end of August; these were already the first days of September.
"Not before Tuesday week, Miss Kathleen," the one resentful housemaid-in-charge answered her enquiries; "the Missus said she'd written to you."
What this Textopian page supports
A Marrying Man is listed on Textopian as a novel by G.B. Stern, dated 1937 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novel
- Author: G.B. Stern
- Date: 1937 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Literary Fiction, Marriage Novel, Social Comedy, Romantic Fiction, Domestic Fiction
- Length: 91,699 words
- Structure: 17 chapters, 1,647 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for A Marrying Man by G.B. Stern
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Literary Fiction — The novel foregrounds psychological observation, social satire, elaborate narration, and reflective prose rather than plot-driven conventions.
- Marriage Novel — Its central subject is the courtship, marriage, and long-term emotional deterioration of Kathleen Morrison and Gareth Temple, interrogating what marriage does to love and individuality.
- Social Comedy — The narrative humorously but sharply exposes middle-class domestic rituals, family interference, gender expectations, literary circles, and social pretensions.
- Romantic Fiction — The story begins with an Alpine idyll and a passionate attachment, while continually testing romantic ideals against the realities of domestic life.
Tags
fiction · romance · love · marriage · relationships · society · British literature · domestic life · courtship · family · social expectations · emotional conflict
Contents
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI
- CHAPTER VII
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV
- CHAPTER I
- CHAPTER II
- CHAPTER III
- CHAPTER IV