Loving

Loving is a novel by English author Henry Green, published in 1945. Set in an Irish manor during World War II, it focuses on the lives, petty squabbles, and complex hierarchy of the household’s servants. It is generally regarded as one of the twentieth century’s best works of fiction.

The story begins with Eldon, the aging butler of the house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Tennant, repeating the name “Ellen” as he lays dying in his rooms, with head housemaid Agatha Burch sitting with him. Outside the door, head footman Charley Raunce instructs a young boy named Bert on how to siphon whiskey from the decanter in Mr. Eldon’s room.

When Eldon passes away, much to the grief of Ms. Burch, the staff is upset and worried about how this event will affect their lives. Mr. Tennant has left to join the army as Germany bombs London, and the staff is largely English. This means that Mrs. Tennant has few options for staffing, due to the war, while the staff is terrified of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and constantly fears bombs, yet cannot return to England because of the bombings and the fear of being drafted. An uneasy power balance therefore exists in the home, as the staff know full well they are irreplaceable.



Charley Raunce immediately goes into the butler’s pantry and retrieves Eldon’s account book and a diary detailing the habits and preferences of visitors to the castle; anticipating these needs had earned Eldon generous tips over the years, and Charley is determined to get the same. He goes to Mrs. Tennant and boldly asks to be promoted to butler in Eldon’s place; she agrees, but without any change in his salary. Charley decides this is acceptable because he knows he will be able to steal enough from the household to more than make up for the difference. His ascension to butler alarms the rest of the staff, who know he is nothing at all like the well-respected Mr. Eldon.

Sensing the resistance of the staff, Charley purposefully takes Eldon’s usual place of honor at the dining table in the servants’ quarters. He then instructs the young, pretty housemaid Edith to continue bringing the butler tea in his room every morning. Mrs. Burch, who supervises the housemaids Edith and Kate, is shocked, but is forced to allow it.

Edith goes to the rooms of Mrs. Tennant’s daughter-in-law, Mrs. Jack, the next morning and is shocked to discover the lady in bed with one of the neighbors, Captain Davenport. This scandal is kept among the staff, creating an atmosphere of dread.



Charley pursues Edith romantically; he is in love with her and begins openly seducing her in his new, unsupervised role as butler. This alarms her roommate Kate, as Charley is nearing forty years old and seems to have little respect for the old traditions of the house.

The staff go through the motions of keeping up the house but also engage in various acts of minor theft and embezzlement, encouraged (and matched) by Charley, who seems to disdain the stuffy respect his predecessor brought to a traditional role that, by the time of the war, was already an artifact of a previous age. A peacock turns up dead, and the mystery of who killed it occupies the staff until a worse mystery takes its place: a valuable sapphire ring has gone missing. Mrs. Tennant frequently loses things, and she does not suspect any of the servants for the loss, but the event unsettles everyone, and suspicions flare as to who would be bold enough to steal something so easily missed and identifiable.

Mrs. Tennant and Mrs. Jack leave for England to visit Mr. Tennant. The staff, encouraged by dire stories told by Charley, consider giving their notice and leaving because they fear that with the Tennants gone, the IRA will attack the home and kill them all. Alone in the house, Mrs. Swift (the nanny) and Ms. Burch both retreat to their beds. Edith is left in charge of the Tennant children, Moira and Evelyn, and spends time in the garden with them every day admiring the peacocks that roam there.



Charley becomes vaguely ill over the course of the story, suffering from an ailment that makes him seem older. He and Edith pursue their relationship openly and make plans for after they leave the house’s service. One day, they sit in the garden discussing these plans, and Charley speaks her name in the same tone and manner that Eldon had repeated the name “Ellen” the day he died. The novel then ends abruptly, informing the reader that Charley and Edith went to England, got married, and lived “happily ever after.”