The History of Mr Polly 2007

After being dismissed from a draper’s shop where his father had apprenticed him, Alfred Polly finds it increasingly hard to secure another position. A telegram announcing his father’s death pulls him back to the family home, setting off a chain of decisions that will redefine his life. A bequest of £500 offers a glimmer of possibility, and a family friend, Mr Johnsen, urges him to invest in a shop—a notion Polly dislikes but cannot ignore. While wandering the countryside on a newly bought bicycle, he experiences a brief dalliance with a schoolgirl, Christabel, before he ultimately marries Miriam Larkins, one of his cousins. Fifteen years pass, and the couple runs a draper’s shop in Fishbourne, their home and work life punctuated by constant bickering and friction that erodes affection.

As the years wear on, Polly casts a shadow over his own happiness. While out walking in the country, he decides to end his life and plans to set his shop on fire to secure insurance money for Miriam. The plan goes wrong: he botches the arson, survives, and in a strange twist becomes a minor local celebrity after rescuing an elderly neighbour from the blaze. The episode leaves him with a sense of notoriety but deepens his restlessness. Unable to find peace at home, he leaves Miriam and accepts work as a handyman and ferryman for a rural innkeeper, hoping for a simpler, steadier life.

Yet this new circle brings new tensions. Polly discovers that the innkeeper’s open position is partly sustained because the innkeeper’s brother-in-law, Jim, is a heavy drinker who bullies other men into leaving. The clash with Jim escalates until a tragic moment: Jim drowns accidentally in a weir while pursuing Polly. Three years pass, and Polly returns to Fishbourne only to find Miriam now running a tea-shop with her sister, believing Polly has drowned. He re-enters the town and settles back into the life at the inn, where, despite the uncertainties of his past, he finds a measure of rough contentment in the familiar rhythm of work and small-town life.