The Ghost And Mrs Muir: Of Victorian ladies and their ghostly paramours

Lucy Muir finds herself widowed at the relatively young age of 34. During her period of mourning, when she is given the space by her family to grieve, she discovers that the life she has led so far has not been her own. All of her decisions have been made for her; by her father, then her husband along with his mother and two overbearing sisters. Once making this realisation, she makes her first decision on her own and promptly heads off to the seaside in search of a house for herself and her two children; Cyril and Anna.

She finds a house on the market for a pittance and insists upon seeing it even though the agent tries to dissuade her. The house turns out to be Gull Cottage, placed on the market by an owner who has departed for South America. It has had several tenants, but none have stayed for long.

Lucy Muir strikes a bargain with Gull Cottage’s former owner, the late Captain Daniel Gregg — she can live in the cottage as long as she buys it and wills it as a home for retired sailors. Lucy has very little money, her husband having gambled it away on poor investments, but the Captain shows her a cache of gold hidden in the house and the deal is stuck.

Mrs Muir and Captain Gregg deal with many situations over the years; a cad interested in the lovely young widow from Gull Cottage, a visit from Lucy’s interfering sister-in-law Eva and her children’s differing temperaments — Cyril wishes to join the church and Anna wants to be a dancer.

It is during a period of tight finances that the Captain suggests that Mrs Muir write his biography. She struggles along with the new skill of handling a typewriter, hearing about the Captain’s colourful past in extremely colourful language and the condescending comments of her house-bound son who assumes his dear, little mother is penning poetry for a polite society tract. With the fear of scandal hanging over her head, Mrs Muir has the book published anonymously and it garners with overwhelming popularity — making Mrs Muir quite a wealthy woman.

The Ghost And Mrs Muir was written in 1945 by Josephine Aimee Campbell Leslie under the pseudonym of RA Dick. Its film rights were immediately snapped up, and in 1947 the film version starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison was released. The book also spawned the 1968 television series starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare. Sean Connery is the current holder of the screen rights, so I guess we can expect a remake in the near future, starring Sean Connery as Captain Gregg.

The book doesn’t mention a time period (although the film is set in 1900) and seems a little scattered. Lucy Muir’s upbringing and subsequent marriage is very Victorian in nature, but her initial trip to secure a rental property as a single woman seems to contradict this. Also her children are both fairly well educated and seem to be finishing school some time prior to WWII in my estimate.

The book is quite a charming read, very much a romance story with a twist. The interplay between the crusty old sea dog and the shy Victorian lady is wonderfully written, as are the changes from their initial characters. Captain Gregg loses his distrust of all women and comes to love and respect Mrs Muir, and Lucy Muir learns to stand up for herself in the face of a domineering family and the society of her time.

I enjoyed the book immensely. If you’re a fan of the movie (which is a reasonably faithful reproduction) or series (which though more contemporary, still takes a few elements from the book) then you’ll love reading this book.

The book is still in print on the Buccaneer imprint, but as it is currently only available as a library edition (cloth bound hard cover) it is quite expensive. There is an out-of-print paperback edition from 1975 that was published under Josephine Leslie instead of RA Dick that may be worth keeping an eye out for too.