Carnival 1946

Jenny Sally Gray is born into a life where the theatre’s bright lure sits side by side with everyday struggle. Her father Charlie Raeburn is out at the theatre, watching a clown show—the clown is even his lodger—while three elderly women stand by the bed to lecture Mrs. Raeburn about the follies of a daughter who might choose the stage. This early tension foreshadows a path Jenny steps onto with ease: she grows into a gifted dancer, and the crowd’s attention follows her every move.

As a young performer, she adopts the name Pearl, a shift that signals both glamour and a growing appetite for life’s more glamorous, risky sides. Jenny becomes absolutely stunning to those who glimpse her on stage, and she draws the gaze of many men. During a day spent at an art gallery, she tries to prove that a sculpture of a dancer isn’t truly possible in the real world and, in the process, tumbles, only to be caught by the artist Maurice Avery. Maurice’s presence brings a spark to Jenny’s world, and their growing bond becomes a pivotal thread: he asks her to live with him, but not to marry.

Back at home, the family dynamics swirl with a new lodger, Mr Trewhella. He’s a country man who disapproves of the town’s ways and isn’t shy about voicing his concerns when he notices the male audience’s leering interest in Jenny’s performances. Maurice’s influence is already tugging at her schedule, disturbing rehearsals and nudging her toward a path that could pull her away from family life. Trewhella’s watchful eye and moral stance set up a clash between Jenny’s ambitions and the traditional pressures of the home she returns to each night.

On Jenny’s birthday, Maurice takes her dancing to the Covent Garden Ball and presents a bracelet, hinting at a future they might share in Spain. She leaves the event with a sense of possibility, yet in the morning she wavers and tells her parents she’s leaving. When she goes to Maurice’s studio, she learns that he has already gone ahead, leaving her feelings unsettled. Their mutual friend Fuzz steps in to explain the situation and unexpectedly proposes marriage to Jenny, a path she feels pulled toward in the absence of Maurice. She ends up running off with Fuzz, leaving colleagues and friends with little sympathy for her loss and the fragile choices she makes.

Tragedy and responsibility circle back as her mother dies unexpectedly, and Mr Trewhella reappears with a proposal to marry Jenny and help raise both Jenny and Maisie in Cornwall. Reluctantly, she accepts, stepping into the role of Mistress Trewhella, a title that marks a new, complicated chapter in her life. When Maurice reenters the scene, the two rekindle their forbidden bond, and a final, impulsive moment unfolds: she begs him to take her to Spain, and in a rush of emotion, she faints as he carries her away.

In this story, the allure of art and the pull of home collide, painting a portrait of a young woman navigating her own ambitions, the expectations of others, and the difficult choices that shape a life lived in the public eye.