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Tell It to a Stranger
A collection of short stories first published in 1947 when Elizabeth Berridge was 28.
174 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
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192 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Berridge
20 books3 followersElizabeth Berridge grew up in the ‘safe London suburb’ of Wandsworth Common. A year in Switzerland and a ‘hateful’ period at the Bank of England, described in Be Clean, Be Tidy (1949), was followed by work in a photographic news agency. She married Reginald Moore in 1940, published her first short story in 1941 and, in 1943, after the birth of the first of her two children, moved to a remote house in Wales, where Moore edited Modern Reading and other wartime anthologies and she wrote the stories reprinted in Tell It to a Stranger – published as Selected Stories in 1947; they returned to London in 1950. Elizabeth Berridge published nine novels, Across the Common winning the Yorkshire Post Award for Best Novel of the Year in 1964. She reviewed fiction for the Daily Telegraph for twenty-five years. Her last novel, Touch and Go, was adapted as a play by BBC Radio 4.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 17, 2016
This book sat on a shelf for such a long time, until a week or so ago, when I realised that it was months since I had read a short story or a Persephone book, and I picked it up.
I had high hopes, because I had stumbled across Elizabeth Berridge’s final novel a few years ago and I had been impressed by it. I suspected that it wasn’t the work of an author at the height of her powers, but I saw things that told me that I had found an author who could write with wonderful insight and clarity, and I found moments that suggested that she was very special indeed.
This collection of stories, published when the author was in her late twenties, lived up to those hopes.
They speak lucidly of human lives and relationships during and just after the war; and of our failure to speak of the things that are really important to us.
The first story – ‘Snowstorm’ – was so striking.
A woman doctor looks on as a group of expectant mothers arrives at a nursing home.
“As she looked the doors of the charabanc opened and the women dropped heavily, one by one, on to the snow-buried gravel. For a moment she was reminded of the blundering honey-bees of summer, over-weighted with pollen. But the moment passed as they clustered together before the house, gazing about, their faces cold, movements distrustful. She counted them.”
It is business as usual; but one of those women is different. Her situation is irregular and she is dignified and undemonstrative; she fails to do the things and to express the feelings expected of her. That disturbs her doctor, and she begins to question her vocation.
The writing was perfectly controlled, and the skill of the author drew me right in and made me think so much of the situation of each woman.
That control, that skill, and an extraordinary clarity made every story fascinating.
It was the clarity that really struck me; I can only compare it to the feeling you have when you have new glasses and you see the world just that little more clearly than you did through the old pair.
The stories sit well together, but they are wonderfully diverse.
‘Lullaby’ is another story of motherhood, and it is so short that it would spoil it to write of any specifics at all; but I must say that shows that the author had a wonderful range, and was able to manage suspense and leave her reader a little shaken.
There are more stories of motherhood, and there are stories that show the differences between the generations.
The most striking of these is ‘Subject for a Sermon’.
A young man who has come home on embarkation leave finds that his mother has no time for him; because she is so caught up in her role as lady of the manor, leading the community in doing everything possible to win the war, that she has failed to understand what the war means for him.
The story illuminates the differing viewpoints of their two generations. She is so very sure of her place in the world, and has no doubt that the war will be won and nothing will change; while he, facing the very real prospect of going to war and fighting, is sure that the future will be very different.
They cannot – will not – find common ground.
There is a touch of social comedy, but there is much more poignancy.
I could say the same for the title story.
Mrs Hatfield, who has returned to her London home to find it ransacked, rehearses how she will tell her story when she returns to the seaside guest house where she and others have lodged in the hope of escaping the impact of the war.
“She had something to tell this time. Here was real news, directly touching her, every person at Belvedere. The war had at last affected them personally; they were no longer grouped outside it, they shared in the general lawlessness. Lack of respect for property. What are we coming to? Police finishing off the whiskey, wouldn’t be surprised if – and so it would grow and, filling more than an evening, filling the days, recreating their lives, and more important, affirming their belief in the past.”
Her story will not play out as she expects.
There are many stories that speak of how we deal with loss.
I was touched by ‘The Prisoner’ the story of a woman who is alone and grieving and who is at first disturbed but later concerned for a group of German POWs working in the area. When one young man is sent to her house on an errand a tentative friendship grows between two lonely souls.
‘The Notebook’ tells a very different story, of a widow who must cope with being alone and with being the guardian of her husband’s legacy. That takes her life in an unexpected direction, and brings her some small comfort. I felt for her when her first instinct was to hide away, and I was pleased to be able to follow her progress.
I could go on writing about specifics, about different aspects of different stories, but it would probably be better to say that you really should read them.
Each one has its own distinctive character. Each one is well written and beautifully judged, with a wonderful awareness of the different aspects of each tale. There are some lovely turns of phrase, there is often a hint of subversion, and there was almost always an unexpected twist or a sting in the tale.
There is also an occasional burst of an entirely justifiable anger.
“What would she do, what would the people like her do, once they realised that their lives were indeed their own? Had she, had they, the courage to take them up and see?”
That such a young author showed such understanding of the people and the world around her, and distilled that into such exquisite and distinctive stories, is quite extraordinary.
There is just one more story that I really must mention.
‘Woman About The House’ tells the story of a man who is a disappointment to his wife and her family, having failed to proved for her as they would have liked and having failed to even find a steady job. He was a disappointment to himself too, but he stirred himself to set out to try to secure a job he had heard about. He got the job, he found lodgings nearby, and he began to build a better life for himself. When he went home his wife was gone, but he didn’t lose heart, he continued to plan for the future.
It’s an odd little story, but it speaks profoundly. It speaks about how poverty can be a trap, about how employment brings self-esteem, and about how just one chance can create the momentum to transform a life.
That story still resonated.
It really should be required reading for people in power.
I had high hopes, because I had stumbled across Elizabeth Berridge’s final novel a few years ago and I had been impressed by it. I suspected that it wasn’t the work of an author at the height of her powers, but I saw things that told me that I had found an author who could write with wonderful insight and clarity, and I found moments that suggested that she was very special indeed.
This collection of stories, published when the author was in her late twenties, lived up to those hopes.
They speak lucidly of human lives and relationships during and just after the war; and of our failure to speak of the things that are really important to us.
The first story – ‘Snowstorm’ – was so striking.
A woman doctor looks on as a group of expectant mothers arrives at a nursing home.
“As she looked the doors of the charabanc opened and the women dropped heavily, one by one, on to the snow-buried gravel. For a moment she was reminded of the blundering honey-bees of summer, over-weighted with pollen. But the moment passed as they clustered together before the house, gazing about, their faces cold, movements distrustful. She counted them.”
It is business as usual; but one of those women is different. Her situation is irregular and she is dignified and undemonstrative; she fails to do the things and to express the feelings expected of her. That disturbs her doctor, and she begins to question her vocation.
The writing was perfectly controlled, and the skill of the author drew me right in and made me think so much of the situation of each woman.
That control, that skill, and an extraordinary clarity made every story fascinating.
It was the clarity that really struck me; I can only compare it to the feeling you have when you have new glasses and you see the world just that little more clearly than you did through the old pair.
The stories sit well together, but they are wonderfully diverse.
‘Lullaby’ is another story of motherhood, and it is so short that it would spoil it to write of any specifics at all; but I must say that shows that the author had a wonderful range, and was able to manage suspense and leave her reader a little shaken.
There are more stories of motherhood, and there are stories that show the differences between the generations.
The most striking of these is ‘Subject for a Sermon’.
A young man who has come home on embarkation leave finds that his mother has no time for him; because she is so caught up in her role as lady of the manor, leading the community in doing everything possible to win the war, that she has failed to understand what the war means for him.
The story illuminates the differing viewpoints of their two generations. She is so very sure of her place in the world, and has no doubt that the war will be won and nothing will change; while he, facing the very real prospect of going to war and fighting, is sure that the future will be very different.
They cannot – will not – find common ground.
There is a touch of social comedy, but there is much more poignancy.
I could say the same for the title story.
Mrs Hatfield, who has returned to her London home to find it ransacked, rehearses how she will tell her story when she returns to the seaside guest house where she and others have lodged in the hope of escaping the impact of the war.
“She had something to tell this time. Here was real news, directly touching her, every person at Belvedere. The war had at last affected them personally; they were no longer grouped outside it, they shared in the general lawlessness. Lack of respect for property. What are we coming to? Police finishing off the whiskey, wouldn’t be surprised if – and so it would grow and, filling more than an evening, filling the days, recreating their lives, and more important, affirming their belief in the past.”
Her story will not play out as she expects.
There are many stories that speak of how we deal with loss.
I was touched by ‘The Prisoner’ the story of a woman who is alone and grieving and who is at first disturbed but later concerned for a group of German POWs working in the area. When one young man is sent to her house on an errand a tentative friendship grows between two lonely souls.
‘The Notebook’ tells a very different story, of a widow who must cope with being alone and with being the guardian of her husband’s legacy. That takes her life in an unexpected direction, and brings her some small comfort. I felt for her when her first instinct was to hide away, and I was pleased to be able to follow her progress.
I could go on writing about specifics, about different aspects of different stories, but it would probably be better to say that you really should read them.
Each one has its own distinctive character. Each one is well written and beautifully judged, with a wonderful awareness of the different aspects of each tale. There are some lovely turns of phrase, there is often a hint of subversion, and there was almost always an unexpected twist or a sting in the tale.
There is also an occasional burst of an entirely justifiable anger.
“What would she do, what would the people like her do, once they realised that their lives were indeed their own? Had she, had they, the courage to take them up and see?”
That such a young author showed such understanding of the people and the world around her, and distilled that into such exquisite and distinctive stories, is quite extraordinary.
There is just one more story that I really must mention.
‘Woman About The House’ tells the story of a man who is a disappointment to his wife and her family, having failed to proved for her as they would have liked and having failed to even find a steady job. He was a disappointment to himself too, but he stirred himself to set out to try to secure a job he had heard about. He got the job, he found lodgings nearby, and he began to build a better life for himself. When he went home his wife was gone, but he didn’t lose heart, he continued to plan for the future.
It’s an odd little story, but it speaks profoundly. It speaks about how poverty can be a trap, about how employment brings self-esteem, and about how just one chance can create the momentum to transform a life.
That story still resonated.
It really should be required reading for people in power.
July 14, 2017
Written rather in the style of Mollie Panter-Downes, these were in general interesting and well written stories about war time domesticity. Some didn't grab me completely, whilst others I found very daring for the time and was thrilled that I writer could be so bold! Really worth reading however.
September 27, 2022
A mostly excellent collection of short stories written during or just after WW2. They are somewhat bittersweet, and were reminiscent of Mollie Panter-Downes. I'll be looking for more work by this author.
February 10, 2015
Berridge is a generous-spirited radical, inhabiting every perspective with insight and commitment. Her aristocrats have virtues which she values and which redeem them personally, but do not justify their overprivileged status.
The critical even-handedness Berridge so masterfully deploys is, I feel, particularly effective in 'Snowstorm' which explores the fraught emotional territories of motherhood and medicine to reveal the debasing potential of certain ethics of care and self-sacrifice. In the delicately nuanced comparison of a worldly young pregnant woman and a female gynaecologist in charge of a maternity hospital under the chronic additional tension of evacuation, Berridge allows the latter bitter envy, and a measure of consolation.
The critical even-handedness Berridge so masterfully deploys is, I feel, particularly effective in 'Snowstorm' which explores the fraught emotional territories of motherhood and medicine to reveal the debasing potential of certain ethics of care and self-sacrifice. In the delicately nuanced comparison of a worldly young pregnant woman and a female gynaecologist in charge of a maternity hospital under the chronic additional tension of evacuation, Berridge allows the latter bitter envy, and a measure of consolation.
October 19, 2011
Read for EN4413: Reading the 1940s, 2011-2012.
Elizabeth Berridge is one of those forgotten gems of English literature, and, quite frankly, it's a real shame that more people haven't heard of her. She has an amazing way of writing that makes you feel such incredibly real emotions without needing to use overly lavish descriptions. In fact, compared to other writers in the 1940s, such as Elizabeth Bowen, her writing is surprisingly sparse. Each of the stories in this collection touched me in a different way, and one even quite horrified me. I'll definitely be trying to get hold of more books from Berridge, as hard as it may be! 9/10
Loved:
Firstborn - I loved the way this ended, wasn't what I expected and I think it took the protagonist and myself both by surprise! Perfectly echoed the thoughts of a young mother in the 1940s, I thought.
Tell it to a Stranger - This was the first one I read and it was so striking and poignant, despite how short it was.
Subject for a Sermon - I'm writing an essay on this one, it seemed to really express the differences in class and generation that were confused and muddled by the war.
Snowstorm - This is the first in the collection and really struck me, yet I'm not entirely sure what about it was so striking. I've thought over it for quite a while now and it still perplexes me in some ways. I had a chat with my tutor about this and we both agreed that the female doctor seems to take on very masculine characteristics in her job, which is definitely something to consider if I decide to write about gender in the 1940s for my project essay.
To Tea with the Colonel - I may have just been PMSing when reading this one, but I myself nearly cried at the end of this story. So much to be said about class relations. This story just seemed like a snippet of the life of a regular, working class woman, but that's what made this story so wonderful.
Enjoyed:
The Bare Tree - Maybe not so enlightening in its depiction of class and generational differences as "Subject for a Sermon", but definitely makes you think about how the WWI generation were affected and reacted to WWII.
The Notebooks - This story had a lot of intriguing statements in it and while I did really enjoy it, it seemed to fall flat towards the end, and made me wonder what Berridge was trying to say about moving on after the death of a loved one, and whether she agreed with the protagonist's actions.
Chance Callers - I got distracted a few times while reading this in the university library, which maybe accounts for me not being truly engaged by this story. But while the characters were very vivid and interesting, this just didn't grab me like the others in the collection.
The Prisoner - An intriguing look at German POWs after the war had ended, and how citizens reacted to them. Very humanising, but still not entirely sure of the message. A good one for the collection to end on.
Wasn't particularly fond of:
Woman about the House - This just didn't engage me, and I was quite glad when the story finished. It had a nothingy feel to it, and I didn't feel like I got anything out of it. A bit of a disappointment after so many enjoyable stories.
Lullaby - This disturbed me, as it did many of Berridge's readers when she first read it. It almost seemed like the young couple were being punished for daring to leave their child alone for one night and enjoy themselves. Not sure if this is the message Berridge intended to give, but I was just downright horrified by this story. Really jerked me out of my reading by how different it was from the others. Maybe this deserves to be put higher up in my list because of my reaction, but I can't say that I liked this story!
Elizabeth Berridge is one of those forgotten gems of English literature, and, quite frankly, it's a real shame that more people haven't heard of her. She has an amazing way of writing that makes you feel such incredibly real emotions without needing to use overly lavish descriptions. In fact, compared to other writers in the 1940s, such as Elizabeth Bowen, her writing is surprisingly sparse. Each of the stories in this collection touched me in a different way, and one even quite horrified me. I'll definitely be trying to get hold of more books from Berridge, as hard as it may be! 9/10
Loved:
Firstborn - I loved the way this ended, wasn't what I expected and I think it took the protagonist and myself both by surprise! Perfectly echoed the thoughts of a young mother in the 1940s, I thought.
Tell it to a Stranger - This was the first one I read and it was so striking and poignant, despite how short it was.
Subject for a Sermon - I'm writing an essay on this one, it seemed to really express the differences in class and generation that were confused and muddled by the war.
Snowstorm - This is the first in the collection and really struck me, yet I'm not entirely sure what about it was so striking. I've thought over it for quite a while now and it still perplexes me in some ways. I had a chat with my tutor about this and we both agreed that the female doctor seems to take on very masculine characteristics in her job, which is definitely something to consider if I decide to write about gender in the 1940s for my project essay.
To Tea with the Colonel - I may have just been PMSing when reading this one, but I myself nearly cried at the end of this story. So much to be said about class relations. This story just seemed like a snippet of the life of a regular, working class woman, but that's what made this story so wonderful.
Enjoyed:
The Bare Tree - Maybe not so enlightening in its depiction of class and generational differences as "Subject for a Sermon", but definitely makes you think about how the WWI generation were affected and reacted to WWII.
The Notebooks - This story had a lot of intriguing statements in it and while I did really enjoy it, it seemed to fall flat towards the end, and made me wonder what Berridge was trying to say about moving on after the death of a loved one, and whether she agreed with the protagonist's actions.
Chance Callers - I got distracted a few times while reading this in the university library, which maybe accounts for me not being truly engaged by this story. But while the characters were very vivid and interesting, this just didn't grab me like the others in the collection.
The Prisoner - An intriguing look at German POWs after the war had ended, and how citizens reacted to them. Very humanising, but still not entirely sure of the message. A good one for the collection to end on.
Wasn't particularly fond of:
Woman about the House - This just didn't engage me, and I was quite glad when the story finished. It had a nothingy feel to it, and I didn't feel like I got anything out of it. A bit of a disappointment after so many enjoyable stories.
Lullaby - This disturbed me, as it did many of Berridge's readers when she first read it. It almost seemed like the young couple were being punished for daring to leave their child alone for one night and enjoy themselves. Not sure if this is the message Berridge intended to give, but I was just downright horrified by this story. Really jerked me out of my reading by how different it was from the others. Maybe this deserves to be put higher up in my list because of my reaction, but I can't say that I liked this story!
April 1, 2013
I didn't expect to like these as much as I did. Her preoccupations are fascinating and very clear - class, outsider status, motherhood, the horrors and trials of being alone. These are very much wartime stories, full of rationing and with the background of dropping bombs and evacuations ever present, but at their heart they are very human stories. Berridge writes unapologetically, almost harshly, criticising every character she creates even as she exposes their softer, human sides. Wonderful stories. Definitely worth reading.
December 2, 2016
I loved these stories from the 1940s. They're clever and generous-spirited though not necessarily ending happily.
January 11, 2015
It really does seem as if Persephone Books publishes exactly the kind of short stories I like. With two more of their collections waiting to be read I am confident this will remain the case. This lovely collection of 1940’s stories by an author I have never read before was an instant five star read, and made me want to go out and get more books by Elizabeth Berridge immediately. I have resisted the call so far – if you could see my shelves you would understand, but I certainly intend to explore her work more fully in the future. The stories which make up Tell it to a Stranger were first published as Selected Stories in 1947, re-issued by Persephone Books with a new title in 2000.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/...
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2014/...
January 18, 2021
I loved this book, and it made me curious to read more of the author's works. Elizabeth Berridge has a very distinct way of writing, that makes her stories absolutely beautiful in its content and prose. I would add more but it is late here, and I will sleep on my thoughts of finishing such a lovely book.
December 8, 2022
This is an enthralling set of short stories, there was a darkness to them I wasn’t expecting. Many of them were about mothers and children or unexpected meetings with strangers. Lullaby is a story that is still shocking 60 years after it was written and I can see why Elizabeth received horrified letters about it.
April 23, 2018
Loved these short stories. I don't understand why this author isn't better known.
February 11, 2024
I rarely read short stories and usually fiction set up during war time is not my favorite thing. But here, I think each short story really captured interesting thematics of that time. It was a surprising book, when I think of war, I certainly don't think of beautiful countrysides, nature, and maternity. It's mainly about scenes of daily life during or after war and yet without being direct, it brings up many topics: maternity, motherhood, intergenerational conflicts, grief, social matters, conformism…
The whole of her works is effective and impactful with a fluid writing style.
The whole of her works is effective and impactful with a fluid writing style.
September 9, 2015
A smart collection of bitter sweet short stories by a 'forgotten' talent. WW2 forms the backdrop to most of them but there is more to them then tales of war torn London, the home front, the blitz and all that. A very intelligent writer lurks within these pages and I am glad I found her.
Toast
Toast
June 26, 2012
On the shelves at my B&B, read from cover to cover in a couple of evenings - enjoyed in a low level type of way. Classic description of life in England in the 1940's.
June 21, 2015
Enjoyed it immensely. Stories of a different time, and different people. Lonely, kind, conflicted, and shaped and wounded by a war.
August 29, 2017
Wonderful, if unsettling, collection of WWII stories from this much neglected author.
October 10, 2018
A witty and subversive collection - both entertaining and deceptively deep
January 3, 2019
Each story was a little gem of life during WWII. The tales center on emotional survival in a time of upheaval, the big and small endurances. Some are heart-breaking and all are gentle.
December 18, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading these stories - I love Persephone's idea to re-release 'forgotten' authors and it's the perfect way to discover writers I might have otherwise never encountered. The stories in this collection are all very domestically themed. It was interesting to read an author writing about these things at the time (1940s) rather than from the present day in which will always inevitably be a biased view.
June 13, 2025
So two days ago, I read The Casino and Other Stories by Margaret Bonham that was re-issued by Persephone Books....I had read it because I liked a short story, “The English Lesson”, that was in The Persephone Book of Short Stories. I read Bonham’s collection of short stories in one day. Then yesterday I read ‘Tell It to a Stranger’ by Elizabeth Berridge that was also re-issued by Persephone Books....I had read it because I liked a short story of hers that was in The Persephone Book of Short Stories, “Subject for a Sermon”. I read Berridge’s collection of short stories in one day. That was not my intent....to devour the collection in one sitting, but I had the time to read and I very much enjoyed reading her stories.
So you can glean at least one thing from the above paragraph: you should get ‘The Persephone Book of Short Stories’. I had given that huge collection 5 stars overall (30 stories). A real treat.
Here are the short stories in the order they appear in the collection along with my ratings for each of them. The foreword was by A.N. Wilson and the afterword was by the author herself.
1. Snowstorm — 3 stars
2. The Bare Tree — 2.5 stars
3. Firstborn — 4 stars
4. Woman About the House — 3 stars
5. Tell It to a Stranger — 3 stars
6. Lullaby — 2.5 stars
7. Subject for a Sermon — 4 stars
8. To Tea with the Colonel — 4.5 stars
9. The Notebooks —4.5 stars
10. Chance Callers — 4 stars
11. The Prisoner – 3.5 stars
So you can glean at least one thing from the above paragraph: you should get ‘The Persephone Book of Short Stories’. I had given that huge collection 5 stars overall (30 stories). A real treat.
Here are the short stories in the order they appear in the collection along with my ratings for each of them. The foreword was by A.N. Wilson and the afterword was by the author herself.
1. Snowstorm — 3 stars
2. The Bare Tree — 2.5 stars
3. Firstborn — 4 stars
4. Woman About the House — 3 stars
5. Tell It to a Stranger — 3 stars
6. Lullaby — 2.5 stars
7. Subject for a Sermon — 4 stars
8. To Tea with the Colonel — 4.5 stars
9. The Notebooks —4.5 stars
10. Chance Callers — 4 stars
11. The Prisoner – 3.5 stars
August 2, 2025
These stories are surprising - always starting out as a traditional English domestic tale then taking plot twists and turns that are often shocking and violent. They speak to rebellion and passion and anger and grief. They are the work of a younger writer, plots are not subtle. But her talent for description and scene setting is strong, so it's clear a good writer is being hatched. It's amazing how much she can pack into a four page story. Most of them happen in the context of WWII, with its attendant losses and miseries, which serve as an effective backdrop these tales of human nature.
I look forward to reading more of her work.
I look forward to reading more of her work.
September 28, 2023
I liked these but fond myself wishing that the longer stories were shorter and the shorter ones longer. Though they cover the same time period as Molly Panter-Downs London Stories, I found them a little more cumbersome. Yet, she is a compassionate and generous writer and casts a wide net over a diverse cast of characters. I'll be seeking out more Berridge.
May 19, 2025
These stories are difficult to read but worth the effort. Berridge's style is oblique and at times even opaque. The stories are inevitably written from inside the head of one or more characters and this 'interior' approach allows for deep introspection, though the motivations and feelings of the characters were not always clear to this reader.
Read
April 3, 2021DNF
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews